i
● i ●
GREENING THE ECONOMY VIA BIOFUELS: BRAZILIAN ETHANOL DIPLOMACY IN AFRICA .............................. 1 Stavros Afionis, Leeds University Co-authors: Nicola Favretto, Lindsay C. Stringer
CLAIMS MADE, UNMADE, AND AVOIDED: ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE IN AND AROUND A
TANZANIAN WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AREA ....................................................................................................................................... 1 Celeste Alexander, Princeton University
FROM INDIVIDUAL PATCHWORK TO LARGE-SCALE COLLECTIVE MARSHLAND CULTIVATION IN
RURAL RWANDA: THE AMBIGUOUS ROLE OF COOPERATIVES IN COMMERCIAL AGRICULTURE .............. 1 An Ansoms, Center of Development Studies, Université Catholique de Louvain Co-author: Jude Murison, University of Edinburgh
CARBON OFFSETS AND AGRICULTURAL LIVELIHOODS: LESSONS FROM A CARBON CREDIT PROJECT
IN GHANA’S TRANSITION ZONE.......................................................................................................................................................................... 2 Albert Arhin, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge
ARE LIVELIHOODS GAINING OR BEING THREATENED IN AN ERA OF GREEN ECONOMY? INSIGHTS
FROM POLICY DISCOURSES ON LIVELIHOODS IN REDD+ POLICIES OF GHANA, KENYA AND ZAMBIA .... 2 Albert Arhin, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge
COUNTER MAPPING AND THE COMPLEXITY OF ‘INTIMATE ENGAGEMENT’ BETWEEN CARBON
CONSERVATION MECHANISMS AND CRITICAL RESISTANCE TOWARD ‘LAND GRABBING' ............................. 2 Rini Astuti, Victoria University of Wellington
THE POLITICAL ECOLOGY OF AGRICULTURAL CARBON FINANCE: THE CASE OF KENYA’S
AGRICULTURAL CARBON PROJECT ................................................................................................................................................................ 3 Joanes Atela, Leeds University
GOVERNING REDD+: GLOBAL FRAMINGS VERSUS EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM THE KASIGAU
CORRIDOR REDD+ PROJECT, KENYA .............................................................................................................................................................. 3 Joanes Atela, Leeds University
LOCAL UNDERSTANDINGS OF MINING LIVELIHOOD CHANGES IN MELANESIA: RECONCILING THE
EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL DIMENSIONS OF CHANGE ................................................................................................................... 4 Glenn Banks, Department of People, Environment & Planning, Massey University
CONSERVATION, CROP-LOSS AND COFFEE: ADVERSE EFFECTS OF BANNING CUSTOMARY PRACTICES
IN AN INDIAN TIGER RESERVE ............................................................................................................................................................................. 4 Tor A Benjaminsen, Department of International Environment and Development Studies (Noragric) Co-author: Nitin D. Rai, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment
IF TANZANIAN WMAS ARE COMMUNITY-BASED NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PROJECTS,
THEN WHAT ARE THE COMMUNITIES AND HOW DO THEY PARTICIPATE? .................................................................... 5 Jevgeniy Bluwstein, Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen Co-authors: Stephanie Loveless, Jens Friis Lund
● ii ●
HOW AND WHY CHIEFS FORMALISE LAND USE IN RECENT TIMES: THE POLITICS OF LAND
DISPOSSESSION THROUGH BIOFUELS INVESTMENTS IN GHANA ........................................................................................... 5 Festus Boamah, Department of Geography, University of Bergen
NON-OUTCOMES IN CLIMATE GOVERNANCE ........................................................................................................................................ 5 Sarah Bracking, International Development, University of Manchester
MINERAL EXTRACTION AND HYDROSOCIAL CHANGE: (RE)PRODUCING WATERSCAPES IN THE
SOUTHERN PERUVIAN ANDES ............................................................................................................................................................................ 5 Jessica Budds, School of International Development, University of East Anglia
ENCLOSURE, DISPOSSESSION, AND THE ‘GREEN ECONOMY’: NEW CONTOURS OF INTERNAL
DISPLACEMENT IN LIBERIA AND SIERRA LEONE ................................................................................................................................. 6 Connor Cavanagh, Department of Geography, York University and Department of International Environment and
Development Studies (Noragric), Norwegian University of Life Sciences
NOT A GOOD YEAR FOR US: IMAGINARY VS. LIVING ECOLOGIES IN RWANDA ........................................................... 6 Giuseppe D. Cioffo, Center for Development Studies, Université Catholique de Louvain
“WITHOUT PLANTATIONS, I CANNOT SURVIVE”: NEGOTIATED ACCESS TO THE AGRICULTURAL
PLANTATIONS IN THE TERRITORY OF KALEHE, SOUTH KIVU, DRC ....................................................................................... 7 Klara Claessens, University of Antwerp
PRODUCING KNOWLEDGE FOR THE GREEN ECONOMY: EXAMINING CLIMATE KNOWLEDGE
NETWORKS IN EAST AFRICA ................................................................................................................................................................................. 7 Meaghan Daly, Environmental Studies Program, University of Colorado
LAND OWNERSHIP AS A HUMAN RIGHT: "WE HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT AND WE CANNOT GO BACK INTO
THE DARK AGAIN" ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 7 Alicia Davis, University of Colorado
Co-author: Mara Goldman, University of Colorado
GREEN ECONOMY DISCOURSES IN AFRICA .............................................................................................................................................. 8 Carl Death, International Political Economy, University of Manchester
REDD+ GLOBAL VALUE CHAINS AND PRIVATE FINANCE IN INDONESIA ......................................................................... 8 Rowan Dixon, Victoria University of Wellington
CARBON FORESTRY, TRADE-OFFS IN ECOSYSTEM SERVICES, AND LOCAL KNOWLEDGE: INSIGHTS
FROM RURAL KILOMBERO, TANZANIA ....................................................................................................................................................... 8 Alex Dorgan, Sheffield University
RURAL DISENFRANCHISEMENT THROUGH CARBON: THE CASE OF KARIBA REDD, ZIMBABWE ................. 9 Vupenyu Dzingirai, University of Zimbabwe
GOVERNING THROUGH NEOLIBERALISM: REDD+ PILOT PROJECTS AND STRUGGLES OVER ACCESS TO
VILLAGE LAND AND FORESTS IN LINDI AND KILOSA, TANZANIA .......................................................................................... 9 Melis Ece, Institute for Society and Natural Resources, University of Eastern Finland
THE ULTIMATE EXPANSION: COMMODIFYING NATURE AND DEMOCRATISATION AS (NEO)
LIBERALISATION OF FOREST GOVERNANCE IN AFRICA ................................................................................................................ 9 Melis Ece, University of Eastern Finland
Co-author: Manali Baruah, James Murombedzi
● iii ●
CAN HERDING AND MINING COEXIST? EVIDENCE FROM TANZANIA ............................................................................... 10 Jody Emel, Graduate School of Geography, Clark University & Heladius Makene, National Environmental
Management Council, Tanzania
THE END OF LARGE SCALE LAND ACQUISITIONS IN AFRICA? ................................................................................................. 10 Linda Engström, Nordic Africa Institute
INDIGENOUS ECOLOGY IN SOUTHERN AFRICAN CRIME NOVELS ....................................................................................... 10 Karen Ferreira-Meyers, Institute of Distance Education, University of Swaziland
GREENING THE EXTRACTIVE ECONOMY: CSR AND MINING FROM CANADIAN PRESSURES TO
AFRICAN IMPACTS ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 11 Tomas Frederiksen, Institute of Development Policy and Management, University of Manchester
SISAL, OLD AND NEW: AGRARIAN CHANGE AND AN EXPERIMENTAL BIOGAS PLANT IN TANZANIA .... 11 Elisa Greco, Research Associate, LeverHulme Centre for the Study of Value, IDPM, University of Manchester
CONSERVATION FOR CARBON OR COMMUNITIES? SWEDISH CLIMATE AND COMMUNITY FORESTRY
INITIATIVES IN UGANDA AND TANZANIA ................................................................................................................................................ 12 Flora Hajdu, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
THE IMPACT OF POWER STRUCTURES ON GREEN ECONOMY INVESTMENTS: HOW STRUCTURAL
POWER RELATIONS CHALLENGE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH ..... 12 Anne Hennings, Research Fellow, University of Muenster
A CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF AGRICULTURAL CARBON INTERVENTIONS IN AFRICA .................................... 12 Rebecca Howard, Leeds University
POWERS OF INTIMATE EXCLUSION WITHIN SUNGAI LAMANDAU’S REDD+ COMMUNITIES ......................... 13 Peter Howson, Victoria University of Wellington
LEARNING FROM THE OTHER: BENEFIT SHARING LESSONS FOR REDD+ IMPLEMENTATION BASED ON
CBFM EXPERIENCE IN NORTHERN TANZANIA ..................................................................................................................................... 13 Thabit Jacob, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Dodoma
Co-author: Faustin Maganga, Institute of Resource Assessment, University of Dar es Salaam
EVALUATING THE SUSTAINABILITY OF PRIVATISATION AND COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN
DECISION-MAKING OVER NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT........................................................................................ 14 Ruth John, Department of Geography, University of Dar es Salaam
Co-author: Opportuna L Kweka, Geography Department, University of Dar es Salaam
GREEN POLITICS, FOOD SECURITY AND SOVEREIGNTY IN TANZANIA ............................................................................ 14 Richard Kangalawe, Institute of Resource Assessment, University of Dar es Salaam Co-authors: Christine Noe, Emmanuel Luoga, Mette Fog Olwig
ASSESSING THE STATUS OF HUMAN–RED COLOBUS MONKEYS CONFLICT AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR
PEOPLES’ LIVELIHOODS IN JOZANI CHWAKA BAY NATIONAL PARK ................................................................................ 14 Abagore L Kaswamila, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Dodoma
Co-author: KH Khamis
CLIMATE EMERGENCY, CARBON CAPTURE, & COERCING CONSERVATION ON MT KILIMANJARO ........ 15 Martin H Kijazi, CODESRIA
● iv ●
THE MABIRA DEBACLE AND ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISM IN UGANDA: A SOCIETAL REJECTION OF
DESTRUCTIVE CAPITALISM? ............................................................................................................................................................................... 15 Fredrick Kisekka-Ntale, Development Research and Social Policy Analysis Centre
LIVING IN BWABWATA NATIONAL PARK, NAMIBIA: HOW TOURISM AND CONSERVATION
STRATEGIES TURN DWELLERS INTO LODGERS .................................................................................................................................. 15 Stasja Koot, Institute for Social Studies
Co-authors: WEA van Beek and J Diemer
RETHINKING EXTRACTION: APPROACHES TO MATERIALITY, ONTOLOGIES, AND KNOWLEDGE IN THE
ANTHROPOLOGY OF MINING ............................................................................................................................................................................. 16 Fabiana Li, Department of Anthropology, University of Manitoba
RESISTING BINGO-SPONSORED CONSERVATION TANZANIA: COMMUNITY RESPONSE TO AWF-
SUPPORTED CONSERVATION PROJECTS IN BABATI AND LONGIDO DISTRICTS ........................................................ 16 Faustin P. Maganga, Institute of Resource Assessment, University of Dar es Salaam
UNPACKING BENEFIT SHARING IN COLLABORATIVE FORESTRY: THE POLITICAL ECOLOGY OF JOINT
FOREST MANAGEMENT IN TANZANIA ....................................................................................................................................................... 17 Faustin Maganga, Institute of Resource Assessment, University of Dar es Salaam Co-author: Mathew Bukhi Mabele, Department of Geography&Environmental Studies, University of Dodoma
ECOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES OF LARGE SCALE LAND ACQUISITIONS AND AGRICULTURAL
MODERNISATION IN CENTRAL UGANDA ................................................................................................................................................. 17 Josh Maiyo, VU University Amsterdam
MORE GREEN, LESS BLUE? EXPLORING THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF WATER RESOURCES IN THE
WATERBERG, SOUTH AFRICA ............................................................................................................................................................................ 17 Michela Marcatelli, International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University
WILDLIFE ECONOMIES, ENVIRONMENTAL ASSET PROTECTION, AND A NEW CONSERVATION
FRONTIER: PRIVATISED WILDLIFE CONSERVATION IN THE MOZAMBIQUE–SOUTH AFRICA
BORDERLANDS ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 18 Francis Massé, PhD Candidate, Department of Geography, York University
NATURE, STATE AND LOCAL PEOPLE: REPERTOIRES OF RESISTANCE IN SOUTHERN AFRICA ...................... 18 Frank Matose, University of Cape Town
UNEVEN (CONSERVATION) DEVELOPMENT .......................................................................................................................................... 18 Brett Matulis, University of Edinburgh
ENHANCING KNOWLEDGE ON CLIMATE CHANGE AND GREEN AGRICULTURE AT LOCAL LEVEL
USING STORYTELLING............................................................................................................................................................................................. 19 Yassin B Mkwizu, Institute of Resource Assessment, University of Dar es Salaam Co-author: RYM Kangalawe
WHY REDD+ REMAINS ELUSIVE AND HOW TO MAKE IT WORK IN HUMAN-DOMINATED MIOMBO
ECOSYSTEMS OF SOUTH-EASTERN TANZANIA ................................................................................................................................... 19 Baruani Mshale, School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan
L’ACCAPAREMENT DES TERRES EN ZONE DE CONFLITS : RÔLES DES FORCES ARMÉES À L’EST DE
LARD ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 20 Emery Mudinga, Center for Development Studies, Université Catholique de Louvain
● v ●
CERTIFICATION IN ECOTOURISM: REVIEW OF EXPERIENCES AND IMPACTS OF USING “GREEN
CREDENTIALS” IN KENYA ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 20 Joseph K Muriithi, School of Environmental Studies, Kenyatta University
PAYMENT FOR ECOSYSTEM SERVICES AND LOCAL REPRESENTATION: LESSONS FROM HOIMA
DISTRICT, UGANDA. ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 20 Agrippinah Namara, Responsive Forest Governance Initiative, IUCN-Uganda Country Office
MARKET ENVIRONMENTALISM AND RETERRITORIALIZATION: A CRITICAL GEOGRAPHY OF CARBON
FORESTRY IN UGANDA ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 21 Adrian Nel, University of Otago
L’IDEOLOGIE DE LA SECURISATION FONCIERE AU BURUNDI: DOMINATION, POUVOIR ET ‘AGENCEITE’
..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 21 Aymar Nyenyezi, Center for Development Studies, Université Catholique de Louvain
LAND BASED INVESTMENTS FOR FORESTS IN TANZANIA: GREEN GROWTH OR GREENWASHING? ....... 22 Mette Fog Olwig, Roskilde University Co-authors: Christine Noe, Richard Kangalawe and Emmanuel Luoga
WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AND THE PLIGHT OF PASTORALISTS IN TANZANIA: A CASE OF WILDLIFE
MANAGEMENT AREAS ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 22 Valentin Ngorisa Olyang’iri & Godfrey Massay, HAKIARDHI/Land Rights Research and Resources Institute
SUSTAINABILITY INITIATIVES IN THE BIOFUEL SECTOR: WHAT DO THEY MEAN FOR THE GLOBAL
SOUTH? ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 22 Stefano Ponte, Department of Business and Politics, Copenhagen Business School
COMMUNICATING AND NEGOTIATING VALUE IN PARTICIPATORY FOREST MANAGEMENT: AN
ETHNOGRAPHIC APPROACH TO EXCHANGE IN TANZANIA’S EASTERN ARC NATURE RESERVES ............ 23 Jessica Pouchet, Northwestern University
EXTRACTIVE PHILANTHROPY: NEW STRATEGIES FOR SECURING LABOUR FOR THE CONSERVATION
ENTERPRISE ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 23 Maano Ramutsindela, University of Cape Town
FACT OR FICTION? COMMUNITY IMAGINATION OF THE MTWARA NATURAL GAS AND ITS ETERNAL
BENEFITS ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 23 Nancy A Rushohora, Stella Maris Mtwara University College and University of Pretoria
“IN LOCAL COLLABORATION WE TRUST”: THE DYNAMICS OF TRUST NETWORK RELATIONSHIPS
IN TANZANIA’S COLLABORATIVE NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT .......................................................... 24 Mathew Agripinus Senga, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Dar es Salaam
GREEN ECONOMY: SECURING A FUTURE FOR TOURISM? ........................................................................................................ 24 Melanie Stroebel, University of Manchester
ENVIRONMENTAL INJUSTICE IN CONSERVATION: EVIDENCE FROM TANZANIA AND UGANDA ........... 24 Hanne Svarstad, Development Studies, HIOA Co-authors: Connor Cavanagh, Pål Vedeld, Tor A. Benjaminsen, David Tumusiime, Espen Sjaastad, Faustin
Maganga, Helga Lerkelund
● vi ●
WHAT IS CARBON? CONCEPTUALISING CARBON & CARBON CAPABILITIES IN THE CONTEXT OF
COMMUNITY-BASED SEQUESTRATION PROJECTS IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH ....................................................... 25 Tom A. Smith, University of Sheffield
Co-authors: Chasca Twyman, University of Sheffield and Alex Arnall, University of Reading
NATURAL RESOURCES, LIVELIHOODS AND SOCIO-CULTURAL DYNAMICS: A CASE STUDY OF A
TRANSNATIONAL AGRICULTURAL PROJECT IN BAKO TIBE (ETHIOPIA) ...................................................................... 25 Theodros Woldegiorgis, VU University
IRONY AND RESISTANCE IN THE TANZANIAN GREEN ECONOMY .................................................................................... 26 Victor Corey Wright, McGill University
● 1 ●
Presenter: Stavros Afionis, Leeds University
Co-authors: Nicola Favretto, Lindsay C. Stringer
Brazil has put a strong emphasis on achieving internatio-
nal recognition in the global political and economic arena,
and is now regarded as a major player in international
affairs. To augment this status, Brazil has invested actively
in developing both South-South and wider multilateral
coalitions. The political and economic actorness of Brazil
is becoming especially visible in developing countries,
which increasingly compete to attract Brazilian’s Foreign
Direct Investment (FDI). In particular, Brazil is keen to
spread its transport biofuels technology by showcasing its
green credentials. This is an area in which Brazil has a
long tradition, being currently the world’s leading biofuels
exporter, as well as the second largest producer (after the
US). Africa is a region of great interest for Brazilian poli-
cymakers, given the comparative advantage of several
countries in land, labour and climatic conditions favou-
rable for growing energy crops. Aiming to promote bio-
fuels as a new green global commodity, Brazil has heavily
invested in “ethanol diplomacy”. In practical terms, this
translates into: i) coalition-building with northern actors,
like the EU or the US, to run feasibility studies and finance
potential projects; and ii) establishing direct bilateral part-
nerships with African countries to expand ethanol produc-
tion. This paper examines Brazil’s experiences with these
policy routes and looks into the opportunities and hurdles
that have emerged along the way. It also offers an insight
into the extent to which Brazil’s ambitions to establish an
international biofuels market will be pursued in an envi-
ronmentally friendly and sustainable way.
Keywords: Africa, biofuels, Brazil
Presenter: Celeste Alexander, Princeton University
This paper considers governance through political claim-
making practices as well as secrecy in and around the vil-
lages of Ikona Wildlife Management Area in north-western
Tanzania, addressing competing notions of community and
democratic governance in a context of increasing calls for
decentralisation. Yet the scope of this paper goes beyond a
notion of localised environmental management. In Tanza-
nia, natural resources and tourism generate tremendous
revenues and international engagement. Viewing go-
vernance through practices of claim-making renders visible
relationships of exchange that exist within a wider social
field. Yet these relationships are seldom equal and point to
power divides which such exchanges do not necessarily
bridge or mitigate. This paper considers a continually shif-
ting governance landscape that has come to exist within
junctures and disjunctures between policy, law, and imple-
mentation in formal governance spheres as well as within
public-private partnerships and engagements with and
through donors, NGOs, CSOs and related organisations.
Based on over a year of multi-sited ethnographic research
in villages in and around Ikona Wildlife Management
Area, in relevant conservation and development organiza-
tions, among private investors, and in legal and govern-
mental contexts, this work seeks to build on recent scho-
larship concerned with a pluralisation of governance ac-
tors and what has been termed the “recentralisation” of
governance in purportedly decentralised governance con-
texts. Ultimately, this paper seeks to further develop a lan-
guage of contemporary governance. Research of legal
cases from the East African Court of Justice to the High
Court of Tanzania to “customary” legal contexts reveals
key terms, strategies and contradictions of claim-making
practices, while the drafting of contracts and MOUs, the
mediation work of conservation and development practi-
tioners, formal and informal meetings, letter-writing and
conversation also provide key spaces for political enga-
gement. Finally, this paper contends with issues which are
strategically avoided or elided in such forums.
Keywords: environmental governance, wildlife management
areas, decentralisation
Presenter: An Ansoms, Center of Development Studies,
Université Catholique de Louvain
Co-author: Jude Murison, University of Edinburgh
This case study of a marshland in Rwanda’s Southern
Province, illustrates how rural policies have impacted on
land allocation for agricultural production, and on the well-
being of the local rural population. Introducing collective
cultivation — coordinated by cooperatives — combined
with a mono-cropping policy for commercially-oriented
crop types, have not improved local living conditions. On
the contrary, the technical and organisational aspects of
● 2 ●
reorganising the marshland have introduced additional
barriers to smallholder farmers’ access to land, particularly
for the poorer categories among them. Cooperative struc-
tures function as mechanisms that exploit rather than fa-
cilitate smallholder farmers and the reorganisation of the
marshland has contributed to replicating and reinforcing
polarisation between rich and poor, within and outside the
marshland arena. These lessons are particularly important
given that marshlands are pilot areas for the Rwandan
government’s ambitions for a green revolution type of
agricultural professionalisation. The potential of small-
holder farmers in organising agricultural production
should be reconsidered by exploring ways to reinforce
smallholder agency.
Keywords: smallholders, collective cultivation, Rwanda
Presenter: Albert A. Arhin, PhD Candidate, Department
of Geography, University of Cambridge
As REDD becomes an integral part of the international
response to climate change, it is important to learn from
existing forest carbon offset projects to ensure that
REDD+ does not undermine property rights, resource
access and agricultural livelihoods. This paper therefore
focuses on one project in Ghana, and is aimed at unders-
tanding how the Vision 2050 Forestry Carbon Credit Pro-
ject (CCP) interacts with property rights, resource access
and livelihoods of smallholders in the Forest-Savanna
Transition zone of Ghana. This study exposes some di-
lemmas and challenges of REDD-type projects in agricul-
tural areas, highlighting the social, institutional and politi-
cal dimensions. The paper explores the land use history of
the study area and how past land-use interventions are
shaping farmers’ perception of the carbon offset interven-
tion. It draws out the narratives of the key actors about
carbon and climate change and how these narratives con-
verge and conflict. Differential interests and power rela-
tions of various actors and how they influence resource
access and control in the CCP are also discussed. The
paper assesses how carbon rights get appropriated and
examines the local understanding of carbon as a commo-
dity. It finally analyses the implications of the CCP on
land-use change and livelihoods in the study sites and the
transition zone. The paper brings into the limelight alterna-
tive narratives from the grassroots that had been obscured
by the dominant narratives of the more powerful actors.
Such counter narratives from the grassroots potentially
provide policy spaces for making carbon offset interven-
tions more equitable, while enhancing the inclusion of
marginalised local actors. The design of the CCP, the chal-
lenges faced by farmers and the project developer, and
factors which contributed to the collapse of the project, all
provide useful lessons for making REDD+ grassroots-
centered and compatible with smallholder agriculture.
Keywords: carbon credits; carbon narratives; rural livelihoods
Presenter: Albert A. Arhin, PhD Candidate, Department
of Geography, University of Cambridge
Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degra-
dation (REDD+) has been conceived globally as an effec-
tive and cost-efficient option for mitigating climate
change. Proponents have hailed the mechanism for its
potential to transfer a large amount of financial resources
to support environmental protection and conservation
efforts. Yet, there are some concerns that REDD+ can also
have negative impacts on local livelihoods and create oth-
er harmful activities that either cause poverty or depriva-
tion. While there is strong advocacy on the need for
REDD+ to address livelihood concerns and other social
issues, research examining how countries are responding
to this call remains quite scarce. This paper presents find-
ings on how Ghana, Kenya and Zambia’s programs to
reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degrada-
tion (REDD+) are proposing to address livelihoods con-
cerns. A content analysis of these REDD+ policy docu-
ments show that while there is strong emphasis on benefits
from REDD+, there is very little discussion on possible
negative consequences of REDD+ on livelihoods, alt-
hough some future analysis through Strategic Environ-
mental and Social Assessments (SESA) and research have
been proposed.
Keywords: REDD+, forests and livelihoods, green economy
Presenter : Rini Astuti, Victoria University of Wellington
On May 2013, the Constitutional Court of Indonesia ac-
cepted the Judicial Review of Forestry Law brought
forward by, among others, the Indigenous People’s Al-
● 3 ●
liance of the Archipelago (AMAN). The delivered verdict
is effectively returning the jurisdiction and ownership of
customary forest to masyarakat hukum adat (indigenous
people). Many have seen this as the opportunity for a
stronger inclusion of indigenous communities in a green
economy agenda such as REDD+. Drawing on the coun-
ter mapping process, a term coined by Peluso (1995), mil-
lions of hectares are mapped by indigenous communities
with the help of several NGOs such as AMAN and Parti-
cipative Mapping Network (JKPP). The NGOs funded
with REDD+ readiness grants are drawing on the impor-
tance of secure tenure for successful REDD+ implementa-
tion, campaigning for the recognition of customary land.
Whereas carbon forestry projects have been commonly
seen as the new frontier of green grabbing (Fairhead et al,
2012; Corson et al, 2013), REDD+ has been widely per-
ceived in Indonesia as a new chance to counterbalance the
previous monopoly of authoritative resources by the state
or capital. This paper seeks to unpack this paradoxical
assemblage of countering existing land grabbing from
corporate concession holders with possible ‘green grab-
bing’ mechanisms. The paper provides analysis of how
this assemblage works through various technologies of
government (techne) to normalise the two contradictory
approaches. In particular it draws attention to the counter
mapping process as an example of the complexity of “in-
timate engagement” between neoliberal carbon conserva-
tion mechanisms and critical resistance toward land grab-
bing.
Keywords: REDD+, counter mapping, land grabbing
Presenter : Joanes Atela, Leeds University
Carbon management in agricultural landscapes has at-
tracted global and national policy and scientific concerns
in the context of addressing the implications of climate
change on agriculture. This paper contributes to the on-
going policy and academic debates on how globally fra-
med agricultural carbon finance initiatives interplay with
national and local socio-political and ecological contexts.
The research draws evidence from the Kenya Agricultural
Carbon Project, which has worked with western Kenya
farmers since 2008, implementing sustainable land mana-
gement activities to generate carbon credits in the context
of climate-smart agriculture. Fieldwork and analysis of
policy documents indicate that the project has engaged
individual farmers on the premise of triple wins-
conservation agriculture which does not resonate well
with farmers’ livelihood perceptions and historical beliefs
around increasing maize yields and state desire to me-
chanise agriculture for economic growth. Diverging inte-
rests associated with the project, long histories of farmer
experiences with related interventions and state institutio-
nal gaps have yielded mixed outcomes for the project, and
complex policy situations from which some actors draw
benefit, but with little impact on farmers’ resilience to cli-
mate change. This study calls for re-thinking of the top-
down donor and science-driven projectisation of agricultu-
ral carbon finance. Approaches and associated capacity-
building need to inform farmers more fully of links bet-
ween sustainable farming practices and carbon; clarify
their carbon rights, and attend to wider development issues
such as water access and secure land tenure which bear
heavily on such projects. This is vital if smallholder far-
mers are to become more empowered to expand their
opportunities and wellbeing in the context of climate
change.
Keywords: agricultural carbon finance; local livelihoods; land
tenure
Presenter : Joanes Atela, Leeds University
This paper examines the unfolding of globally-linked
REDD+ projects in local African settings, focusing on the
Kasigau project in Kenya. This commercial project has,
over the last six years, unfolded in a relatively vulnerable
Kenyan setting. A policy process analysis, interactive
fieldwork and document review has explored its interrela-
tionship with local livelihood assets and state institutional
capabilities. The paper reveals that while REDD+ institu-
tions are globally standardised through negotiations inter-
locked with political and development interests, projects
are faced with state and local resource histories and per-
ceptions, and in responding to such settings, these projects
become highly contextual. Locally, the Kasigau project
links carbon benefits to specific and significant local vul-
nerabilities such as low ‘value’ dryland, water scarcity and
illiteracy. This has yielded an apparently uncontested ac-
ceptance and favourable perception of the project among
the Kasigau people, seeming to reverse long histories of
exclusion from their resources by centralised state-based
resource management regimes. Yet the negative percep-
tion of state institutions that the Kasigau people have built
up over time raises questions as to whether the state can
ably oversee a successful REDD+ process, as assumed by
the international community. As such, international gains
● 4 ●
in safe-guarding local communities in REDD+ could be
seriously compromised. Kenya recently initiated land
reforms as part of resource decentralisation, but the resul-
ting regimes remain fuzzy, subordinate to powerful centra-
lised interests, focused on individual title, and inadequately
adapted to local contexts. Such reforms potentially re-
shuffle local engagement in the Kasigau project, which
draws its apparent success partly from a communal land
tenure system. The paper concludes that communal sys-
tems, if well-defined, may provide a better basis for
REDD+ project governancece, enabling inclusivity, col-
lective action and societal benefits.
Keywords: REDD+; local perceptions; land tenure
Presenter: Glenn Banks, Department of People, Envi-
ronment & Planning, Massey University
Large-scale mining in Melanesia, as in other parts of the
Global South, brings massive transformations to surround-
ing communities. While substantial resources are typically
injected into the communities by way of negotiated com-
pensation, royalties and employment benefits, profoundly
unsettling social and economic changes also affect local
people. In-migration is one, with populations at some
mine sites doubling every decade, placing huge stress on
already disturbed local environments, living conditions
and social relationships. Inequality rises rapidly, with the
arrival of the mine signalling a boom for locals designated
as the ‘landowning community’, others typically have to
struggle to gain far less from the mine. There are also con-
cerns regarding excessive consumption (of alcohol and
vehicles, for example) and the flagrant waste of resources
by landowners who are frequently cajoled into ‘thinking
about the future’ and discussions of their post-mining live-
lihoods. From the external perspective, then, communities
seem to be subjected to dramatic change over which they
have little control. From the perspective of local commu-
nities though, these transformative changes are typically
viewed far less unequivocally, and often less critically.
Migration, for example, is expected of kin from surround-
ing areas, and can bolster populations in claims against the
company, provide additional income, and strengthen
groups against others in the region. Problems with mi-
grants are with those whose ‘faces we do not know’, and
can lead to contentious internal debates about whose kin
really represent the problem. Likewise, what may appear
as ‘waste’ — in the form of highly inflated customary
exchange payments, for example — can be seen as ful-
filling local aspirations connected to understandings of
regional cultural connection and myth, as well as actually
securing the future for those currently at the centre of dis-
tribution networks. Local cultural lenses then, typically
provide a very different vision of local agency and futures
to those of external observers which can be extremely
problematic when the shape of external interventions is
determined by external parties.
Keywords: mining, communities, migration
Presenter: Tor A Benjaminsen, Department of International
Environment and Development Studies (Noragric)
Co-author: Nitin D. Rai, Ashoka Trust for Research in
Ecology and the Environment
Conservation policy in India is premised on the exclusion
of people from forests and the suppression of their custo-
mary ecological practices. Using a chain of explanation
framework this paper shows that the banning of indige-
nous practices such as early season fires, hunting and col-
lection of forest produce has had a series of effects on not
only the condition of the forest, but also on agricultural
practices, cropping patterns and sources of income. The
lack of fires has resulted in the proliferation of the invasive
species Lantana camara and reduced forage availability
for wildlife. The ban on hunting has increased the popula-
tion of wild boars, which raid the rain-fed agricultural
fields of Soligas, an indigenous community. As a conse-
quence, Soligas have largely switched to cultivating cof-
fee, which wild boar do not consume. The lower returns
from agriculture and forest produce harvest has resulted in
an increase in dependence on cash income from labour.
Wage labour in large coffee estates and agricultural planta-
tions are now the primary source of income. Conservation
policy has transformed a community that was agricultural
and forest-based into a wage labour class. Although prole-
tarisation of the Indian peasant is an ongoing rural pheno-
menon, conservation policy further exacerbates this pro-
cess through appropriation of land and forests for conser-
vation, increasing wildlife populations and changing forest
structure.
Keywords: neoliberal conservation; protected areas; rural trans-
formation
● 5 ●
Presenter: Jevgeniy Bluwstein, Department of Food and
Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen
Co-authors: Stephanie Loveless, Jens Friis Lund
This paper seeks to understand the nature of community
involvement in WMA management in Tanzania. WMAs
are propagated as a CBNRM approach for wildlife mana-
gement to protect wildlife and further rural livelihoods and
development. Thus, WMAs are discursively being linked
to participatory and decentralised approaches to NRM,
thereby invoking the promises associated with such ap-
proaches in the sense of more equitable and efficient re-
source management and livelihood improvements. Yet,
the theoretical promises of community participation are
based on theoretical assumptions that, if not met in reality,
render the promises unlikely to be fulfilled. Thus, we ask
in what sense WMAs are community-based and how
WMA management processes compare with the assump-
tions underlying the promises of CBNRM approaches.
We do this by comparing WMAs management processes
with the ideals of participation (Arnstein), democratic de-
volution (Ribot), and collective action (Ostrom). Empirical
evidence of this ongoing study points to very limited parti-
cipation and collective action at the community level,
which we define as the village ; beyond the few people
who are immediately involved in WMA management,
there is little popular participation, transparency or sense of
ownership and control of WMA management by the
communities. Thus, it is difficult to argue that WMAs are
community-based institutions in the theoretical sense of
the word.
Keywords: REDD, Tanzania, Norway
Presenter: Festus Boamah, Department of Geography,
University of Bergen
In the current land deals debate, land dispossession is often
attributed to exploitative acts of agricultural investors. How-
ever, the role of equally active actors in the making of land
deals such as chiefs, who customarily are custodians of land,
does not feature prominently in the debate. The paper shows
that the recent surge in large-scale land deals in Ghana corre-
sponds with chiefs’ pre-existing motivation to re-establish
authority over land, firstly, to formalise the use of ‘stool land’
to create rural development opportunities; secondly, to for-
malise boundaries of ‘stool land’ to avert potential future land
litigations. Social groups lacking recognition from chiefs
therefore often lose land, whereas land areas of those recog-
nised by chiefs are protected, sometimes regardless of their
‘citizenship’ identity in project villages. The author argues that
an understanding of how local social institutions and politics
mediate investment in land will enrich analyses of processes
of land dispossession.
Presenter: Sarah Bracking, International Development,
University of Manchester
This paper explores the practice of mainstreaming develop-
ment in climate finance following Foucauldian insights on the
roles of knowledge and power in public policy processes,
using the short history of the emerging Green Climate Fund
as a case study. The paper argues that the current influence
achieved by international advocacy and civil society groups is
found lacking in relation to the influence of international busi-
ness and the private sector. But this is not merely derivative of
an inequality in lobbying resources, it is more that key out-
comes are successfully stalled by powerful states until a tech-
nical fix which favours business interests can be negotiated,
while civil society claims an agenda decisions are stalled or
postponed. If a balance of power is achieved, a new ‘win-
dow’ is opened to sidestep and relocate corporate influence in
a new institutional entity. Overall the compliance and emas-
culation of climate justice groups is maintained by condition-
ality, where funding is only released in the event of corporate
capture. This paper explores the technical language and de-
vices which align ‘rational’ outcomes with effective non out-
comes.
Presenter: Jessica Budds, School of International Devel-
opment, University of East Anglia
This paper employs the concept of the hydrosocial cycle
to analyse the ways in which changing demand for and
use of water as a result of the expansion of the copper
mining sector in southern Peru shifts social relations
around water, focusing on the community level. The
hydrosocial cycle reconceptualises water from a material
resource to a socio-nature that embeds and expresses
● 6 ●
social and power relations, both material and discursive.
This paper uses the framework to show how excavating
the processes by which water is socially constructed and
produced by different social actors in the context of min-
eral extraction reconfigures hydrosocial relations,
whereby people shape water in ways that in turn influ-
ences social structures, relations and subjectivities.
Drawing on largely qualitative research from highland
communities in southern Peru, the paper examines how
water is differentially understood and represented by
mining companies, the state, indigenous-peasant com-
munities, and anti-mining activists. The papers suggests
that it is not simply ‘water’ that is at stake, but instances
of water that are produced through its engagements with
these groups, and which, in turn, shift relations among
and between these groups.
Keywords: mining, hydrosocial cycle, power
Presenter: Connor Joseph Cavanagh, Department of
Geography, York University and Department of Interna-
tional Environment and Development Studies (Noragric),
Norwegian University of Life Sciences
Perhaps the most recognisable feature of the nascent green
economy is the creation of new markets for so-called ‘so-
cio-natural commodities’ and ecosystem services, inclu-
ding carbon and biodiversity offsets, payments for water
catchment, biofuels, ecotourism retreats, and even so-
called ‘species banks’. Simply put, this paper appraises the
potential for these markets to catalyse new forms of con-
flict and internal displacement in West Africa, with speci-
fic emphasis on the post-war contexts of Liberia and Sier-
ra Leone. Following the International Committee of the
Red Cross’ Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement,
the primary drivers of forced migration are conventionally
thought to include a combination of civil war, ethnic strife
or cleansing, development-induced migration, or allegedly
‘natural’ disasters. Of course, both Liberia and Sierra
Leone witnessed horrific levels of violence-induced dis-
placement during their largely simultaneous civil wars,
which ended in 2002 and 2003, respectively. However,
displacements for large-scale conservation and commer-
cial agriculture increasingly threaten to exacerbate the
unresolved legacies, mapping onto enduring conflicts over
land and resources that emerged during the civil war era.
Such trends should concern us given that – as demons-
trated by a sizeable literature on conflict causation in the
Mano River Basin — agrarian grievances have repeatedly
served as a salient yet under-ac-knowledged driver of re-
cruitment into militant organisations. Interrogating these
apparent contradictions in Liberian and Sierra Leonean
reconstruction efforts, this paper argues that the new dri-
vers of internal displacement ultimately assist West Afri-
can states in territorialising their authority over historically
unruly populations, since conservation and agrarian re-
forms limit access to land and natural resources, and the
relative autonomy that arises from such access.
Keywords: internal territorialization; green grabbing; state for-
mation
Presenter: Giuseppe D. Cioffo, Center for Development
Studies, Université Catholique de Louvain
In 2007 the Rwandan government embarked on an ambi-
tious project of agricultural modernisation based on land use
consolidation, regional specialisation and increased use of
chemical fertilisers and hybrid seeds. In 2013, while the motto
‘striving for self-reliance’ was chosen to commemorate the
19th anniversary of the genocide, the country experienced a
bad agricultural season due to heavy rainfalls followed by a
long drought. Based on in-depth, micro-level field research in
two settings in Northern Rwanda’s highlands, this paper ar-
gues that the agricultural modernisation policies, aimed at
ensuring food security and boosting productivity, have so far
failed to deliver their goals to the country’s poorest rural
households. On the contrary, the combination of consolidat-
ing land use, regional specialisation and climate-change-
driven weather variability has increased food insecurity and
the rate of self-exploitation of the rural poor. Such results are
the by-product of the attempted imposition on the rural popu-
lation of imaginary ecologies — new forms of relations be-
tween rural dwellers and their natural environment based on
high productivity and surplus creation. Imaginary ecologies
are conceived in the space of development and modernisation
as part of the Rwandan government’s social engineering
efforts (Ansoms, 2009). Meaning by ecology not only the
ensemble of geo-physical phenomena but the ‘messy bundle
of interactions’ between human and extra-human nature, the
clash of imaginary ecologies with the reality of rural house-
holds’ living ecologies weakens rural dwellers’ ability to re-
spond to environmental shocks and perpetuates patterns of
low productivity, natural resource degradation, poverty and
marginalisation.
Keywords: ecology, land consolidation, Rwanda
● 7 ●
Presenter: Klara Claessens, University of Antwerp
This article analyses the land access arrangements of small-
scale farmers in and around the agricultural plantations at the
border of the Kivu Lake between Bukavu and Goma. The
area is densely populated and suffers from an influx of refu-
gees fleeing areas scourged by the presence of armed forc-
es. This population pressure is leading to an adaptation and
reinvention of existing access schemes and to more exclusive
land access patterns. This article traces the historical roots of
contemporary access mechanisms to the land on the agricul-
tural plantations. The analy-sis is based on data collected dur-
ing fieldwork in four villages. Data was collected through a
combination of in-depth interviews, focus group discussions
and participatory mapping. The article shows how, during
different periods in history, formal and informal interventions
established complex hierarchical power networks that influ-
enced access mechanisms and contributed to the formation of
new regulatory spaces and new processes of subject making.
Presenter: Meaghan Daly, Environmental Studies Pro-
gram, University of Colorado
The Green Economy movement aims to facilitate econo-
mies that promote equity and improved human wellbeing,
while reducing environmental risks and ecological im-
pacts. Importantly, the Green Economy discourse empha-
sises producing the necessary knowledge to support im-
plementation of national and regional initiatives to enable
transitions to economic systems that are socially equitable
and ecologically sound. These knowledge production and
dissemination efforts have included policy advice, techni-
cal assistance, and capacity building. A prime example of
these knowledge production processes is the Global Fra-
mework for Climate Services (GFCS) launched in 2009,
which seeks to reduce the vulnerability of society to cli-
mate-related hazards and to advance key global develop-
ment goals by providing climate information. In particular,
the goal is to build capacities in developing countries,
where vulnerabilities to climate impacts are high, but cli-
mate service provision is currently weak. Yet, there are
ongoing questions about how “equitable” such climate
services are, including: Who is able to access and use such
information and for what purposes? What are the conse-
quences of promoting knowledge transfer across scales?
Who gets to participate in processes of knowledge produc-
tion? What other kinds of knowledge may be silenced in
the process? This paper examines the dynamics of climate
knowledge production, access, and use across scales in
East Africa, within the context of GFCS and Green
Economy initiatives. This includes tracing knowledge
flows and networks, and specifically investigating: 1) who
produces knowledge and how, 2) how the knowledge is
accessed and used, 3) how knowledge gains validity
among a range of actors, and 4) how relations of power
among actors across scales and epistemologies influence
knowledge flows. Findings draw on quantitative survey
data and individual and group interview data collected at
multiple scales (community, national, international), with
local level data collection occurring in the semi-arid region
of northern Tanzania.
Keywords: knowledge, climate, Tanzania
Presenter: Alicia Davis, University of Colorado
Co-author: Mara Goldman, University of Colorado
This paper discusses the gendered dynamics of land priva-
tisation in Maasai communities in northern Tanzania.
Large development organisations (and smaller NGOs that
depend on them for funding) have been supporting the
neoliberal ideal of privatisation of land ownership as an
essential part of development. This process is complex
and sometimes contested, notably in areas where land has
been traditionally managed communally. Some suggest
women may be disproportionally bearing the brunt of re-
cent rural land grabs, as women are highly dependent on
land yet have a distinctive lack of rights to land. Thus, efforts
are being made across Maasai communities to educate
women about how land ownership may empower them.
However, there has been less focus on the potentially pi-
votal and empowered role women may play in the collec-
tive action of communities to keep their land communally.
We present data from a five-year longitudinal and compara-
tive study of Maasai communities in Monduli and Longido
districts that complicates the gender and land question. We
show that women are increasingly active in seeking land
and land titles, notably after receiving adult education
through NGO sponsored women's groups and in many
cases women are at the forefront of a struggle to secure land
in their communities. Our research highlights that Maasai
women are making clear links between land, empower-
● 8 ●
ment and human rights. They are starting to view owning
land, both individually and as groups, as a means to access
their rights and to secure the economic future for themselves
and their children. Women also see owning land as a means
to rectify past incongruities in land ownership and land
alienation, and to keep land within the community. This
gendered aspect of land privatisation puts a complex spin on
current debates surrounding land in Maasai communities.
Keywords: Maasai, women's empowerment, land privatisation
Presenter: Carl Death, International Political Economy,
University of Manchester
Global interest in the concept of the ‘green economy’ has
heightened since 2008, however most discussions fail to dis-
tinguish between very different versions of the discourse, and
its different political implications. This article argues that there
are four major discourses within the overall green economy
framework, and these focus respectively on mitigation,
growth, transformation and revolution. Moreover, most
research on the green economy tends to focus on European
and North American countries. In the context of a changing
global economy and the ‘rise of the South’ the politics of the
green economy in sub-Saharan Africa is of increasing impor-
tance. This paper takes the South African enthusiasm for
green jobs, climate change targets and taxes, and renewable
energy investments as a starting point to explore the politics of
the green economy discourse: what do these rhetorical com-
mitments and policy initiatives mean for regional political
economies? It also uses the green economy framework as a
means to explore South Africa’s evolving relationship with
the rest of the continent: as norm entrepreneur, investor, and
regional hegemon. Green economy discourses in South Afri-
ca are contrasted with others in Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozam-
bique, Botswana and Tanzania. This highlights the different
ways in which the green economy discourses have been
interpreted, shaped and translated in Africa, and contrasts
some of the varied political effects of these discourses: inclu-
ding as carbon colonialism, ‘land grabs’, infrastructure in-
vestment, bioprospecting, natural resource governance, eco-
tourism and transboundary conservation areas.
Keywords: green economy discourses, South Africa, Africa,
policy
Presenter : Rowan Dixon, Victoria University of Wellington
In an effort to conserve forests while improving livelihoods in
the south, REDD+ has been attracting and frightening finance
the world over, especially in Indonesia. The contested frame
that finance inhabits in Indonesia’s REDD+ institution offers
a novel opportunity to test Global Value Chain (GVC) fra-
meworks from the perspective of finance actors. This ap-
proach enables contemporary REDD+ projects to be ana-
lysed as exercises of commodification and relations within
broader institutional contexts. REDD+ finance is decons-
tructed by GVC characteristics into government, donor, and
private funding sources. This paper focuses on the complexi-
ties of private funding as these are the actors that the future
REDD+ schemes envisage funding. Drawing on field data
from Indonesia the paper finds that private REDD+ funding
culminates into two separate but linked motivations that have
driven the character of privately funded REDD+ projects thus
far : Corporate Social Responsibility, and Profit Maximisa-
tion. These motivations and the resultant commodification
processes and value chains they drive are investigated and
compared within the context of the wider REDD+ institution
and ambition globally and in Indonesia. On repositioning
privately funded REDD+ processes within emerging Indone-
sian REDD+ systems, questions are raised as to how private
finance might constitute the projected character of REDD+
grand designs and what this might mean for agreed REDD+
outcomes. This reflects on the potential realisation of inten-
tioned green economies in the South when they are compo-
nents of wider global finance and commerce systems.
Presenter: Alex Dorgan, Sheffield University
Private investment in re/afforestation in rural communities is
often presented as a ‘triple-win’ example of climate compa-
tible development: working to mitigate climate change,
enabling local communities to adapt to the impacts of climate
change, and providing an additional source of income and
thus helping to alleviate poverty. However, there has been a
recent shift towards recognising that there can also be substan-
tial trade-offs associated with these initiatives. This paper
looks at two study sites in the Kilombero district of Tanzania,
that have recently seen the establishment of large tree planta-
tions by private-sector companies for timber, paper, charcoal
making, and carbon-credits. Drawing on household surveys,
and participatory methods (including focus group discussions,
cause-effect diagramming, historical calendars, participatory
mapping, and semi-structured interviews with key-
informants), this paper examines the perceived impact of this
private sector investment in re/afforestation on natural re-
sources and ecosystem services, including indirect impacts on
● 9 ●
ecosystem (dis)services and the observed consequent impact
on the communities’ livelihoods.
The paper argues that while the potentially positive impact of
private investment in re/afforestation in these rural communi-
ties should not be underplayed, there is a need to consider the
trade-offs in ecosystem services (and disservices) that may
emerge from these activities. It is important to recognise that
the impacts felt may vary between different groups within the
communities and that there is not necessarily an equitable
distribution of costs and benefits. Therefore care should be
taken to ensure particular groups do not carry the weight of
negative impact, and local understandings of carbon and re-
lated environmental processes should also be recognised.
Keywords: carbon forestry, ecosystem services, trade-offs
Presenter : Vupenyu Dzingirai, University of Zimbabwe
After initial years of indecision, Zimbabwe has now turned to
carbon as a vehicle for forest conservation, local development
and participation. In this, it has joined with the local and global
private sector, and is now propagating carbon experiments in
changing landscapes dominated by a differentiated peasantry.
While it is fervently argued that carbon initiatives improve
livelihoods and should be doing so, it remains unclear whe-
ther these indeed improve local peo-ple's lives and also ex-
pand their control of forestry resources on the ground. This
paper looks at how carbon initiatives are performing in rela-
tionship to rural livelihoods and how communities are res-
ponding to this process, by examining the Kariba REDD
unfolding in Hurungwe, a district with a sequence of displa-
cements arising from development.
Keywords: carbon forestry; REDD; rural livelihoods
Presenter: Melis Ece, Institute for Society and Natural
Resources, University of Eastern Finland
The market-driven logic of REDD+ has become one of the
leading avenues for research on the neoliberalisation of na-
ture. However, in Africa, the persistent presence of the “state”
in the area of nature conservation and recent decentralisation
reforms that target forested village lands suggest that instead
of a retrieval of the “state” in all domains, we may be witnes-
sing a re-regulation of state institutions around environmental
governance. This indicates that there is a need for further
research on the governance dimensions of the new climate
mitigation-based conservation interventions like REDD+.
What is the role of REDD+ in strengthening the neoliberal
environmental governance in specific country and institutio-
nal contexts? Focusing on a REDD+ pilot project imple-
mented by a Tanzanian para-statal NGO, this paper looks at
how neoliberal environmental governance unfolds within the
institutional framework of decentralised forest management
in Tanzania.
In 2002, Tanzania adopted a decentralised approach to forest
management — Participatory Forest Management” (PFM)
— which claimed to give more powers to village councils by
allowing them to pass agreements with national and district
governments to establish forest reserves. With land use plan-
ning set as a pre-condition, elected village authorities were
given the power to define the rules of access to forests under
their jurisdiction through by-laws. Land use planning was
also integrated into Tanzania’s REDD+ strategy (2013) as a
“social safeguard”. Based on REDD+ projects implemented
by MJUMITA/ TFCG this paper analyses how the land use
planning process has been carried out in Kilosa and Lindi
districts. It analyse village land conflicts that emerged or re-
surged after the introduction of REDD+ and, discusses the
role of REDD+ in fueling land conflicts through speculations
over forests’ market value, and in maintaining the oversight of
district officials over elected village councils despite its “parti-
cipatory” claims.
Keywords: REDD+, neoliberal environmental governance, land
conflicts
Presenter: Melis Ece, University of Eastern Finland
Co-author: Manali Baruah, James Murombedzi
This paper interrogates the theoretical and material under-
pinnings of commodifying nature in Africa, expressed in
the form of land and natural resource expropriation and
privatisation of tenure. The process is facilitated by the
hegemonic imposition of political conditionality of ‘good
governance’ inter alia. We argue that this neo-
liberalisation is achieved in part through notions of proce-
dural democracy. We contend that commodification, cou-
pled with the democratisation project, contribute to the
imperative to create in Africa patterns of transformation
similar to those that characterised the transition to moder-
nity in Europe. The paper explores the governance im-
● 10 ●
pacts of the on-going commodification of African forests
through the imposition of new governance regimes via
global interventions such as REDD+ and situates the Afri-
can state’s collaboration in this expansionist project in the
context of coloniality. This paper uses empirical evidence
from the Responsive Forest Governance Initiative's
(RFGI) Africa-wide research. We show that REDD+,
forest carbon or payment for ecosystem services (PES)
initiatives tend to be implemented through NGOs or civil
society organisations (CSOs) rather than democratically
elected authorities on the basis of their ‘technical’ capaci-
ties, ‘proximity’ to the concerned communities and mobi-
lisation power. The capacity of NGOs and CSOs to repre-
sent community needs and interests is rarely a basis for
selecting them as implementing partners for REDD+ or
similar projects. This is part of the pluralising and depoliti-
cising strategies of neo-liberalism. Through select case
studies, we show the scope of natural resource decentrali-
sation in Africa, located in the democratisation logic of
neo-liberalism, and evaluate its implications for democra-
tisation.
Keywords: democracy, neo-liberalism, REDD+
Presenters: Jody Emel, Graduate School of Geography,
Clark University & Heladius Makene, National Environ-
mental Management Council, Tanzania
Can mining and livestock herding co-exist? This is an im-
portant question for many mining regions including Tanza-
nia. What kinds of mitigation measures are put in place as
part of the formal mine planning and baseline environmental
assessment to protect the livestock industry? Are mining
operations always fenced? Are common grazing lands and
water sources included in resettlement and compensation
programs? Research in Tanzania from 2005–2012 suggests
that much can be done to plan for and mitigate livestock prob-
lems resulting from the mine lifecycle. This presentation will
revisit some of the problems identified by interviewees living
near large-scale mining sites in the Lake Victoria goldfields,
provide an overview of the existing literature and policy on
livestock-mining coexistence, and offer some thoughts on
how mining companies might enhance the livestock industry
and live better with herding neighbors in mining regions. The
presentation also explores how catering companies that serve
mine operators source meat products.
Keywords: mining, herding, mitigation
Presenter: Linda Engström, Nordic Africa Institute
The new rush for land in Africa for large scale agro invest-
ments has received much attention worldwide, not least the
production of biofuel crops, but also of food. Tanzania has
been mentioned to be in the top ten countries in Africa to
allocate land to foreign investors for this purpose. However,
recent research shows that the extent to which land has been
allocated to these kinds of land deals in Tanzania have been
greatly overestimated. This problem seems to apply for re-
ports on land deals Africa-wide, not only in Tanzania. A re-
cent issue of the Journal of Peasant Studies (40:3, 2013) scru-
tinises the methodology used when collecting land deal data
as well as the links to transparency issues. My empirical re-
search in Tanzania takes the picture one step further. Even
when derivative rights have been granted by the government,
the investors face problems with becoming, and staying, op-
erational. Today, there is not one single operational biofuel
investment in Tanzania. The biofuel investments that have
become operational have all gone bankrupt or have been sold
to other investors. The two investors that have received deriv-
ative land titles are delayed and have switched to food pro-
duction. This paper will show that food investments in the
new land rush face similar difficulty in becoming operational
and profitable, drawing from cases in Tanzania, but also
elsewhere in Africa. There are general as well as context-
specific mechanisms behind this trend of delays and failures.
The widespread strategy among African governments to
facilitate large-scale agro investments seems so far to have
been a failure. These investments will most likely not play
the role that was anticipated in the path forward for African
agriculture.
Presenter: Karen Ferreira-Meyers, Institute of Distance
Education, University of Swaziland
As crime novels, in general, use themes of public interest,
more and more African crime novels now turn to environ-
mentalism as one of their selected themes. It is noteworthy
that this happens in a genre which often has the city, the urban
environment as its main setting. While issues of pre-colonial,
post-colonial and indigenous environmentalism in general
literature have become of interest to researchers, little attention
has been given to the same theme in contemporary crime
fiction. In this paper focus will be put on Anglophone South-
ern African crime fiction (Jassy Mackenzie, Worst Case,
Deon Meyer, Blood Safari and Trackers in particular, Mi-
● 11 ●
chael Stanley, Death of the Mantis, Lauren Beukes’ 2010 SF
noir entitled Zoo City, Mike Nicol, Out to score, Payback and
Killer country, etc.). Various literary tropes such as that of
ecological disaster, the contentious nature of issues surround-
ing land-ownership, environmental policymaking, the distri-
bution of natural resources, and the founding of a sense of self
in relation to place are represented in the African crime novel.
Even though crime fiction is still largely considered as para-
literature, pulp’ fiction and associated with low-brow escap-
ism, the paper seeks to show that postcolonial ecocritics also
focus on the literary reconstruction and representation of post-
colonial environments. It will also try to answer the question
as to what extent African literature is a form of resistance
against current environmental degradation in Africa caused
by global capitalism and multi-national corporations' exploita-
tion of natural resources in Africa. This paper draws on the
field of eco-criticism, most notably the work of post-colonial
eco-critic, Anthony Vital, South African eco-critic, Julia Mar-
tin, and the eco-philosophy of Giles Deleuze and Félix Guat-
tari, as put forward in A Thousand Plateaus.
Presenter: Tomas Frederiksen, Institute of Development
Policy and Management, University of Manchester
Recent years have seen an important shift in the interna-
tional governance pressures on the extractive sector. Ha-
ving a credible and comprehensive corporate social res-
ponsibility (CSR) programme that demonstrates that mi-
ning companies can manage the risk and complexity of
their operations effectively is becoming a de facto requi-
rement for access to finance. In turn, some companies
have adopted elaborate CSR strategies which appear to
move beyond former ‘public relations’ approaches. These
changing norms and practices have potentially far-
reaching consequences. With many sub-Saharan African
countries resting their hopes for economic development
on the extractive sector, and investment in the African
extractive sector expanding, the changing practices of
mining companies affect the lives of millions of Africans.
The limited capacity of African governments to regulate
international mining company activities means that global
norms and voluntary CSR initiatives fill, however partial-
ly, an important regulatory gap. This paper presents early
findings from research on the global governance and
development impacts of changing CSR practice in the
extractive sector; specifically, relationships between emer-
ging international governance regimes, mining companies
and multi-faceted community development CSR pro-
grammes in Africa.
Presenter: Elisa Greco, Research Associate, LeverHulme
Centre for the Study of Value, IDPM, University of Manchester
Tanzania has stood out in the biofuel debate, both as a major
geographical target for international biofuel ventures and as a
site of political reactions to them. After recapitulating on the
distinctiveness of Tanzanian political responses to internatio-
nal biofuel ventures, this contribution will present the little-
known story of an high-tech experimental biogas plant in
Hale, Korogwe District (Tanga region), where biogra pionee-
ring seems not to have been altered by the national political
shifts on biofuel production. Established in 2007, this de-
monstration project aimed to establish viable biogas and bio-
generated electricity production using sisal waste as biomass.
The physical infrastructure and the biogas technology have
been secured through funds from the United Nations Indus-
trial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and the Common
Fund for Commodities (CFC). Given its potential for carbon
trade, it has been long seeking accreditation as a Clean Deve-
lopment Mechanism (CDM). Sisal, the main source of bio-
mass, is presented as a traditional crop, historically grown in
Tanga region. For this reason, contrary to other contested
biofuel projects, the Hale biogas experiment has never been
seen as competing with local food production or causing land
dispossession. The biogas plant relies on sisal production
from five sisal plantations held by Katani Ltd — a private
company which acquired sisal plantations through privatisa-
tion bids, and is seen as the heir of the now dismantled Tan-
zania Sisal Authority. The company retains the land title to the
plantations and the control over sisal marketing and proces-
sing, while sisal production is almost entirely carried out by
small, private contract farmers living around the plantations.
This contribution problematises the revival of sisal production
in Tanga region, by reflecting on the long history of land and
labour struggles in and around sisal plantations and on the
contested presence of sisal monoculture. The impact of sisal
revival for biofuel production is better grasped through a his-
torical analysis of agrarian change in the region, where “old
sisal” — for cordage production — had declined since the
mid- 1970s and “new sisal” — for alternative uses, such as
biogas has been spearheaded throughout the last two decades
as an alternative to the dismantling of large sisal plantations
for land redistribution to local claimants, as recommended by
the Presidential Commission of Enquiry into Land Matters in
the early 1990s.
Keywords: biofuels, Tanzania, sisal
● 12 ●
Presenter: Flora Hajdu, Swedish University of Agricul-
tural Sciences
Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) allows rich
countries to buy carbon dioxide emission rights through
contributing to emission reductions in poorer countries.
Sweden has around 40 CDM projects, some of which
conserve/replant forest in Africa. CDM projects aim to
contribute to sustainable development in the target coun-
tries, but research on previous projects with reforestation/
conservation aims in Africa has shown that degradation
often has been assumed and connected to local practices
without empirical proof, with negative outcomes for local
people. The tendency to talk about degradation without
demanding scientific proof of its existence fuels an ‘Afri-
can degradation narrative’ that is unhelpful in locating and
dealing with real problems. There are also other well-
established ways to conserve forest jointly with local
communities, such as Community Based Forest Man-
agement (CBFM), which usually have as a main aim to
benefit local livelihoods. The underlying most basic moti-
vation for the projects, to sequester carbon on the one hand
and to benefit local communities on the other, thus seems
to have an impact on project outcomes. This project, stud-
ied a CDM project in Uganda and a CBFM project in
Tanzania, both financed by Sweden. The projects have
similar stated aims of conserving forest and benefiting
local livelihoods, but pilot studies suggest that the differing
underlying basic motivations of the projects as well as
differing assumptions about causes of degradation and the
importance of local livelihoods lead to different outcomes.
Project ideas and their local effects are studied through
discourse- and livelihoods analysis.
Presenter: Anne Hennings, Research Fellow, University
of Muenster
Due to the myth of vast idle land and resources worth protect-
ing, (private) investors are increasingly invited either for green
commercialisation or nature conservation purposes. Simulta-
neously, incidents of green washing, land grabbing, displace-
ment, and conflicts over new resource tenure systems occur.
Hence the question arises, what undermines the inclusive equi-
ty approach of the green economy concept and instead contrib-
utes to market-driven unsustainable investments? The paper
scrutinizes the impact of power relations and develops a typol-
ogy of stakeholder relations by applying Bas Arts’ threefold
approach of distinguishing discursive, decisional and regulatory
power. Moreover, the neo-Gramscian theory plays a pivotal
role to reveal historic power disparities. Key findings show the
necessity to differentiate two types of actor relations affecting
the sustainability and equity policy of green economy projects.
First, on the state-society level the degree of community partici-
pation and general access to power mechanisms are crucial.
Post-colonial developments, ethnic or religious discrimination
determine which communities benefit from green economy
investments and who remains excluded from socio-economic
prosperity. Secondly, on the state-economy level the power
constellation between investors and governments need to be
considered. Apart from historically rooted disparities between
the Global North and the South the global constellation slightly
diversifies. Southern investors from emerging countries in-
creasingly enter the market of green economy. Thus, not only
alternative commercial relationships but also new power rela-
tions evolve. The paper findings demonstrate the policy rele-
vance of reflecting structural power disparities within a society
as well as in the context of government-investor relationships.
Approaching them might be a first step towards genuine eco-
friendly green economy investments contributing to poverty
reduction and ensuring regional stability.
Presenter: Rebecca Joy Howard, PhD candidate, Leeds
University
Agricultural carbon projects designed to generate carbon
credits for sale on the Voluntary Carbon Market are cropping
up across sub-Saharan Africa. Most are embryonic, and the
environmental, social and economic returns on investments
are still difficult to discern. While some projects may be con-
tributing to mitigation, adaptation and sustainable develop-
ment, unexpected negative outcomes are also showing
through. Carbon credits have been bought and sold while the
whereabouts of the carbon and its likely duration in the soil or
the trees is still ambiguous; methodologies for estimating
carbon baselines and measuring carbon storage have proved
to be highly subjective or approximated in practice, and land
owners and tree-planters have been asked to sign contracts
without a clear understanding of what they are committing
themselves and future generations. Are these limitations due
to fundamental design flaws? Or are they just ‘teething pro-
blems’, corrigible over time, through bigger investments,
larger-scale operations, and more rigorous certification sys-
tems? This question is timely, because new investment mo-
● 13 ●
dels and certification schemes are appearing on the agricultu-
ral carbon horizon.
Agribusinesses are currently entering into Public-Private-
Partnerships to pool expertise, capacity and investments in
schemes enabling them to source not only cash crops but
also carbon credits from produc-ers in their supply net-
works. In close cooperation, standards organisations are
developing carbon certification tools and methodologies
amenable to the specific circumstances of small producers
scattered over large areas. This paper explores to what
extent the design and application of pro-smallholder agri-
cultural carbon standards can ensure mechanisms for
smallholders in Africa to negotiate their share of benefits,
assert their rights, participate meaningfully in projects and
contribute criteria for judging their success.
Keywords: standards, smallholders, agricultural carbon
Presenter : Peter Howson, Victoria University of Wellington
The Sungai Lamandau REDD+ demonstration activity is
unique in Indonesia as the first REDD+ project officially
proposed by a community group, on land they manage auto-
nomously. Community groups in Sungai Lamandau are
promoting and shaping REDD+ to fit local conservation
priorities, defending local livelihoods by resisting more des-
tructive land-use practices. Despite its ‘bottom-up’ architec-
ture, the project comes with a distinct set of historical baggage
from perceived social injustices. Just as multi-scalar policy
legacies have excluded the region’s forest communities, for
many, access to Sungai Lamandau’s REDD+ benefits re-
mains exclusive. However, this exclusion from project enga-
gement is not only imposed by powerful external actors, but
emerged endogenously, through the everyday functioning of
local markets, community-based socio-environmental and
ethno-territorial movements. This paper uses Hall, Hirsch and
Li’s conceptualisation of ‘exclusion’ to examine the inequi-
table allocation of benefits within Sungai Lamandau’s
REDD+ communities. The paper focuses primarily on ‘inti-
mate exclusions’ -— everyday processes of accumulation
and dispossession among villagers in the context of agrarian
capitalism. In doing so, the paper highlights the dangers of
developing mechanisms structured with limited sympathy for
the dispossessed. Although excellent ethical carbon credit
ratings may be achieved, the project may still fail to address
(or even exacerbate) this root cause of Sungai Lamandau’s
forest degradation.
Keywords: REDD+; exclusion; communities
Presenter: Thabit Jacob, Department of Geography and
Environmental Studies, University of Dodoma
Co-author: Faustin Maganga, Institute of Resource As-
sessment, University of Dar es Salaam
REDD+ has emerged as a means through which commu-
nities, projects and countries can be financially rewarded
for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest de-
gradation. Tanzania’s efforts to include community based
forest management (CBFM) as a climate mitigation op-
tion is also seen as the way to benefit forest dependent
communities through carbon credit payments. However,
if not well executed, REDD+ may accelerate poverty if
benefit sharing arrangements are not well addressed. This
paper investigates benefit sharing issues at a CBFM site
(Duru-Haitemba Villages Land Forest Reserve) which is
getting ready to participate in the REDD+ strategy. Field
work was conducted in two villages (Riroda and Ayasan-
da) adjacent to DHVLFR in Babati District, northern Tan-
zania. A total of 101 households were randomly inter-
viewed with a sampling intensity of 8%. Mixed research
methods (both quantitative and qualitative) were used for
collection and triangulation of information and included
extensive literature review, household interviews using a
structured questionnaire; key informant interviews, tran-
sect walks, observations, and focus group discussions.
Regarding community perception on benefit sharing, the
findings of the study revealed that most (68%) respon-
dents felt benefits are not well shared. On the other hand,
although there are no substantial cash related benefits at
the moment, 43% of respondents felt that current benefits
— especially financial ones — are mainly shared among
the ruling class and those connected to them. Furthermore
there are no specific criteria for sharing benefits although
formal arrangements for sharing current limited benefits
are in place. Weak governance mechanism and lack of
transparency further affects benefit sharing. Local go-
vernance mechanisms and institutions must be strengthe-
ned if proper benefit sharing is to be realised under
REDD+.
Keywords: climate change, REDD+, benefit sharing, Commu-
nity Based Forest Management
● 14 ●
Presenter: Ruth John, MA student, Department of Geo-
graphy, University of Dar es Salaam
Co-author: Opportuna L Kweka, Senior Lecturer, Geo-
graphy Department, University of Dar es Salaam
Tanzania has embarked on privatisation and governance
as part of neoliberal processes of rolling back of the state
and creating accountability and democracy. While initial
studies on the impact of neoliberal policies in the global
South have pointed out that neoliberal policies have more
of negative impact on natural resources thus unsustai-
nable, recent studies have praised the privatisation process
arguing that it can influence devolution by providing capi-
tal, expertise and market access. This paper draws from a
case study where there is private and community involved
in management of forest and wildlife resources. The paper
first examines the processes of privatisation and decentra-
lisation in Tanzania. It then outlines the practices of private
and community actors in managing natural resources.
Finally, the paper evaluates the extent to which the prac-
tices are geared towards sustainable development. Va-
rious actors involved in the process and their roles will also
be identified.
Presenter: Richard Kangalawe, Institute of Resource
Assessment, University of Dar es Salaam
Co-authors: Christine Noe, Emmanuel Luoga, Mette
Fog Olwig
Issues of the global food crises have brought a number of
responses in development, access to food, poverty and
power relations between the South and North, peasants
and elites and with corporate regimes in agribusiness, fo-
restry and eco/bio-energy production. Rather than averting
insecurities, these relations have further fuelled the current
speculative large-scale land investments and acquisitions
as investors seek to exploit new market opportunities for
food and cash crops, eco/bio-energy production along
with forestland for carbon sequestration. This paper is
based on a study to examine the socio-economic and envi-
ronmental impacts of changes from smallholder to large-
scale land holdings. Using the literature on food security
and sovereignty and experiences from the southern
highlands of Tanzania, the paper argues that improving
food security is seen as a global priority to be addressed
urgently in developing countries. Yet foreign land acquisi-
tion and investments in Africa already seem to directly
interfere with the right of the rural poor to feed themselves
and forecloses the lands taken for land-less who can make
alternative, and potentially better, use of the resources. In
many parts of Tanzania trees are emerging as a dominant
feature of village agricultural landscapes. This may have
considerable future impacts on food security especially
since much land is already being taken up for large-scale
tree plantations. Using a case study of Mufindi district we
demonstrate how the increasing trend of forest plantations,
mainly owned by private companies, central government
and individuals, and where large-scale land acquisitions
and/or transfers have taken, and are taking place, in the
context of the global ‘land grab’, have potentially affected
food production, food security and general livelihoods of
the local populations and compromised their land sove-
reignty.
Keywords: land acquisitions, food security, forest plantations
Presenter: Abagore L Kaswamila, Department of Geo-
graphy and Environmental Studies, University of Dodoma
Co-author: KH Khamis
Three villages around the Jozani Chwaka Bay National
Park (JCBNP) which are Pete-Jozani, Unguja Ukuu
Kaebona and Kitogani were surveyed so as to assess the
status of human-red colobus monkeys conflict and its im-
plication to livelihood. Data for this study were collected
using questionnaire survey, key informants interviews, phy-
sical field observations and literature reviews. 120 house-
holds, 10 JCBNP officials and three village leaders were
involved in the study. Others were Jozani Environmental
Conservation Organization (JECA), Organization of the
people who own farms around JCBNP (UWEMAJO) and
South district forest officials. Field findings indicate that
human-colobus monkeys conflict, particularly crop damage
— coconuts, mango and yams is on the increase. To miti-
gate this problem farmers have been using different
methods which among others include guarding, fencing,
doll/model, poisoning and trapping. On the other hand, The
JCBNP has been using different mitigation measures, in-
cluding providing conservation education, working with
community organisations, establishing villagers’ projects in
the park and tourism revenue sharing. To reduce conflicts,
communities and other stakeholders gave several sugges-
● 15 ●
tions such as compensatng affected farmers, providing em-
ployment opportunities, initiating non-farm income genera-
ting projects, translocating the colobus monkeys to other
areas, reducing the number of colobus by killing them and
intensifying rangers around the park. Apart from existing
mitigation measures the following are recommended: com-
pensating individual affected farmer, increasing employ-
ment opportunities to the local communities around the
park, developing communities productive projects as alter-
native means of income to improve welfare and provide
knowledge and skills to the farmers on how to mitigate the
problem using non-lethal measures.
Presenter : Martin H Kijazi, CODESRIA
Through analysis of policy, discourse and practice, this
paper examines the politics of climate and carbon forests
on Mt. Kilimanjaro. Climate change and carbon-
sequestration sensationalism have raised the forest’s politi-
cal profile: the Regional Commissioner (RC) declared a
ban on tree-cutting on all public and private lands in Kili-
manjaro. RC’s office also houses a UNDP sustainable
land management programme which is prospecting on
‘scaling-up’ carbon-financing. But often, without (or con-
trary) to sound evidence, alarmists sensationalise local
forest ‘degradation’ as the main or sole contributor to cli-
mate change. They also blame local forest users’ practices,
ignoring the role of many complex and dynamic political,
economic and ecological drivers of change. Conversely,
sensationalism unrealistically views local forests as a pa-
nacea through which all climate change, carbon emissions
and environmental change woes would be erased. Thus
central and regional government decision-makers have
undertaken a series of interventions to reclassify the forests
of Mt. Kilimanjaro and the associated forest governance
institutions. This reconfiguration reversed earlier efforts to
devolve forest management to local people. The changes
have favoured centralisation of forests and fortress conser-
vation using coercive state apparatus. This is claimed to
protect ecosystem integrity, yet, through syndicates of
corruption, the rich, powerful and well-connected continue
to extract forest resources, particularly valuable timber
species. But local people are not simply sitting outside the
fortress as spectators. Widespread forms of local resistance
are also observed. The paper does not simply add to calls
for a more socially just conservation: rather it suggests that
carbon-forest enthusiasts and other conservationists ought
to consider local representation in conservation – as a mat-
ter of justice, a matter of rural emancipation, and a practi-
cal basis for achieving their own goals.
Keywords: climate change; carbon capture; fortress conservation
Presenter: Fredrick Kisekka-Ntale, Development Re-
search and Social Policy Analysis Centre
Capitalism has facilitated the creation global wealth and un-
precedented global consumption. Nevertheless there are
growing concerns about capitalism’s destructiveness to global
environment and nature, exacerbating the concerns and fears
of the extreme impacts of climate change. In Uganda, this
scenario is well represented in an almost decade-long debate
regarding the Executive’s proposition to give away a substan-
tial chunk of Mabira forest to the Sugar Corporation of
Uganda (SCOUL), largely owned by the Metha Family of
Indian descent. This proposed give away has consistently
met stiff resistance from all sections of society including the
Indian community, arguing that the interests of one capitalist
ought not to affect the broader public interests. Thus the res-
ponse to the proposed forest give-away represents state and
society’s varied interpretation of capitalism. For, the people’s
disappointment, grief, worry, and anger represent a critique
and contestation to capitalism. In this regard, this article seeks
to engage with the new forms of mobilisation and environ-
mental activism in Uganda and locate it within the wider
global debate on environmental justice. In so doing we shall
engage with the view as that this response constitues a societal
rejection of destructive capitalism.
Keywords: destructive capitalism; environmental justice ; Mabi-
ra Forest
Presenter : Stasja Koot, Institute for Soc
Co-authors: WEA van Beek and J Diemer
This article examines the plight of the Khwe Bushmen, a group
of (former) hunter-gatherers in the Bwabwata National Park in
Northern Namibia. The Khwe have lived for a long time in the
area of Bwabwata, which consequentially entails their automa-
tic engagement in the park’s conservation activities that altered
their environment seriously. Although they were historically
hardly involved in the implementation of such activities, this
was supposed to change with the rise of Community-Based
Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) in the 1990s. Still,
in many ways these changes did not materialise and in 2011 the
approval of the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation
● 16 ●
Area (KAZA TFCA) is aimed at the increase of conservation
in the area. An important element in these plans is to boost
‘green economic’ growth by increasing tourism, also involving
the Khwe Bushmen.
As a theoretical starting point, we use Ingold’s dwelling pers-
pective, based on hunter-gatherer ontologies, in which the
world comes into being because an organism/person is conti-
nuously interacting with their environment, through bodily
activity. Dwelling is contrasted with building, in which
(wo)man constructs the world cognitively before (s)he can
live in it. The paper applies a third notion, namely lodging, to
refer to a situation in which people live in an essentially
foreign environment. Today many changes in the environ-
ment of the Khwe are triggered beyond their control, instead
of through their interaction with their environment. In this
concept, the environment is dominant and the people have no
option but to adapt to changes in their environment outside
their control.
Using these three notions of dwelling, building and lodging
we analyse various conservation and tourism developments
in the environment of the Khwe, historically as well as more
recently. In so doing, we show the transformation of the cultu-
ral understanding the people have of their environment, of
their interaction with it (and with the various actors and stake-
holders) and with each other.
Keywords: dwelling perspective, hunter-gatherers, Namibia,
tourism
Presenter: Fabiana Li, Department of Anthropology,
University of Manitoba
The past two decades have brought about a proliferation
of conflicts over mining, as well as a growing literature on
the dynamics of these conflicts. Using a political ecology
framework, some scholars have elucidated the processes
that shape new geographies of extraction. This paper seeks
to contribute to this literature by drawing on the methods
and theories of anthropology, and science and technology
studies. Specifically, the focus is on the role of expertise
and contested knowledges about nature, pollution, and
water to understand community responses to mining in
the Peruvian highlands. This paper focuses on two em-
blematic conflicts involving the Yanacocha mining com-
pany. In campaigns against the proposed Quilish project,
protestors maintained that Mount Quilish was an aquifer
and an Apu (usually translated from Quechua as “sacred
mountain”). They argued that mining would not only af-
fect water quality and quantity, but would raze a mountain
that holds special significance for the local population. In
protests over the Conga project, activists opposed the de-
struction of four mountain lakes at the mine site, while the
company promised to mitigate these impacts by building
four reservoirs for local communities. For the protestors,
however, natural watersources were not commensurable
with reservoirs, or with gold. Water’s central role in recent
controversies has generated new forms of political action
in Peru, and has also influenced corporate practices and
state responses to the conflicts. In studies of environmental
controversies, some scholars have emphasised the social
meanings of water in different cultural contexts. Others
have suggested that an entity such as water is not a single
phenomenon, but takes multiple forms. This paper con-
siders these and other theoretical approaches to materiality,
ontological conflict, and expert knowledge to examine
how water became a life-sustaining element, an aquifer, a
sentient being, and a resource to be chemically treated,
monitored, and technically managed.
Keywords: mining, water, expertise
Presenter: Faustin P. Maganga, Institute of Resource
Assessment, University of Dar es Salaam
In Tanzania, big international conservation NGOs (BIN-
GOs) play a significant role in shaping and facilitating
environmental interventions. They also have a major role
in promoting “participatory” management of wildlife,
forestry and other resources. In wildlife management,
organisations such as AWF and WWF have been active
in shaping the wildlife management policy and legislation,
as well as promoting Wildlife Management Areas
(WMAs) on village lands. These environmental interven-
tions are normally accompanied by restrictions which
result in resistance by communities who bear the cost of
conservation. There are cases where communities have
vehemently resisted the restrictions related to creating
WMAs on their village lands, in spite of some benefits
that have been promised by the promoters of WMAs.
This paper discusses two cases of AWF’s role in fast-
tracking the creation of WMAs, and the resulting com-
munity resistance in Babati and Longido districts.
Keywords: environmental governance; African Wildlife Foun-
dation; conservation; resistance; Tanzania
● 17 ●
Presenter: Faustin Maganga, Institute of Resource As-
sessment, University of Dar es Salaam
Co-author: Mathew Bukhi Mabele, Department of Geo-
graphy and Environmental Studies, University of Dodoma
A key driver for the evolution of people-centred approaches
to forest management has been the call for adjacent commu-
nities to benefit from the resource management. However, the
benefits that communities do get under collaborative forestry
have been very contentious, and highly influenced by political
economy of forest–society interactions that have been nar-
rowly studied and documented. This paper draws perspec-
tives from political ecology and theory of access to determine
how power relations and competing interests influence bene-
fit sharing amongst the actors involved, drawing on a case
study of Nou forest reserve, a forest under collaborative fo-
restry. A qualitative methodological approach is used where
narrative interviews, expert interviews, in-depth interviews,
oral stories and focus group discussions build discourse on
how benefits shared among the actors are shaped by existing
power dimensions and competing pursuits over forest re-
sources. Conversation, narrative and critical discourse ana-
lyses are employed to reveal the meaning of messages and
expressions contained in the built discourse. Results reveal
that state actors, village leaders, influential villagers and local
politicians hold more power over forest resources and benefits
than most villagers. Informant interviews, oral stories and
focus group discussions further indicate that such powers
have made it easier for those actors to fulfil their interests at the
expense of the majority. The paper concludes that benefit
sharing in Nou forest is very much shaped by political
economy of forest–society relations. These relations led to the
emergence of few powerful actors and winners at the expense
of the majority of community members, which allowed these
powerful actors to create losers in their own backyard.
Keywords: political ecology, joint forest management, resource
access, power relations, Babati
Presenter: Josh Maiyo, VU University Amsterdam
This paper presents preliminary findings from a detailed
research on the social and ecological impacts of large-
scale land deals in communities around four farms: a pri-
vate Chinese farm, two Indian owned farms, and a Swe-
dish farm in Nakaseke district of central Uganda. Despite
clear land use regulations, and legal procedures and stand-
ards for environmental protection, some land was leased
or allocated in breach of guidelines on land use in fragile
ecosystems. In some cases, proper environmental impact
assessments were not carried out before operations com-
menced, and where restrictions were issued, these were
violated leading to potentially significant ecological con-
sequences to fragile ecosystems and users in the commu-
nities concerned. Weaknesses in enforcement, lack of
political will and interference as well as inadequate re-
sources for monitoring are just some of the gaps that need
attention to ensure socio-ecological balance is achieved.
Presenter: Michela Marcatelli, PhD Student; Internatio-
nal Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University
The Waterberg is an emerging destination for eco-tourism
in South Africa, where traditional farms are progressively
being converted into game farms and private nature re-
serves and where municipalities and ‘green’ entrepreneurs
are developing together a distinctive brand aimed at iden-
tifying this area as a site of wilderness and conservation.
This paper aims to reveal that the socio-ecological reality
of the Waterberg is much more complex than that
depicted by conservation discourses and initiatives and it
will do so by focusing especially on the political economy
of its water resources. Access to water resources in the
Waterberg is strategic for a number of reasons, ranging
from reaching substantial equality for historically disad-
vantaged groups to attracting tourists by offering them
comfortable and even luxurious services. Yet, three major
aspects seem to make it a highly contested issue: water
needs are indeed multiple and competing, with a growing
demand coming from (poor) domestic users and the mi-
ning and energy sectors (in relation to the current deve-
lopment of the Waterberg Coalfield); access to water is
still largely private and dependent upon access to land; and
water resources are commonly perceived and defined as
‘scarce’, albeit the social factors contributing to scarcity
(also related to the booming eco-tourism sector) are over-
looked, while water shortages are suffered the most by the
poorest residents.
By drawing on the preliminary findings of a one-year
period of fieldwork in the Waterberg plateau, this paper
analyses the local water value chains from a political
economy perspective. How much water is made available
● 18 ●
for whom, for what, on what terms, and how is the value
of water constructed and marketed? These are fundamen-
tal questions that will broaden our understanding of how
‘green’ economic initiatives have an impact on access to
natural resources and also further their commodification.
Keywords: water, value chains, eco-tourism
Presenter : Francis Massé, PhD Candidate, Department
of Geography, York University
Privatised conservation spaces and ‘green grabs’ are proli-
ferating in southern Africa as land set aside for wildlife
conservation is expanding via private concessions, effecti-
vely privatising conservation governance across massive
tracts of land. In Mozambique, for example, a contiguous
space of over 150 000 hectares has been allocated to the
private sector to create the Greater Lebombo Conservancy
– a collection of private reserves looking to develop trophy
hunting and eco-tourism. This has happened in response
to new imperatives for wildlife conservation, ‘environ-
mental asset protection’, and the desire to develop a viable
wildlife economy. Located in Mozambique, but along the
border of South Africa, the conservancy is supported by
both countries. Mozambique, a country with a weak histo-
ry of conservation, sees the conservancy as a viable ap-
proach to developing its wildlife economy and conserva-
tion credentials. South Africa, currently battling an unpre-
cedented level of rhino poaching, sees the conservancy as
a buffer zone to its iconic Kruger National Park that can
help stem the flow of poachers entering it from Mozam-
bique to kill its rhinos. As a result, large tracts of land,
along with security forces, wildlife management, market-
led conservation initiatives, and even community relations
are now under private control. The purpose of this paper is
to conceptualise the Greater Lebombo Conservancy as a
new frontier of land control and value with the objective of
contributing to debates surrounding green grabbing and
privatised conservation by asking: What conditions give
rise to the privatisation of conservation governance at dif-
ferent scales? How do the private and public sectors (in a
cross-border context) come together to consolidate and
secure territories for wildlife and market-led conservation?
What are the implications for resource access, communi-
ties, and the territorial integrity of the state?
Keywords: private conservation governance; wildlife conserva-
tion; Southern Africa
Presenter: Frank Matose, University of Cape Town
Conceptual and empirical analyses of the effects of neo-
liberal conservation/green imperialism are undertaken on
the basis of observations of three contexts in Southern
Africa. Rather than retain these analytics at the political
economy level, the agency resulting from the collusion of
the state with capital is examined in this paper. One central
problem tackled lies with the nature of State property —
converting communal resources into state resources in a
context in which the other actors/parties have different
notions of property creates tensions that were repressed
under colonial and/or apartheid rule. With the onset of
post-colonial or democratic dispensations, these tensions
then rose to the surface leading to challenges of previous
impositions of property relations. The second problem lies
with the notion of resistance —agency by local people —
engaging the thesis that political economic analysis of the
effects of neo-liberal conservation neglects to interrogate
the issue of agency. Under what circumstances do certain
forms of resistance manifest themselves? What forms and
strategies of resistance are deployed? Three contexts
around protected forests in Zimbabwe and South Africa
are compared. The first is in western Zimbabwe where
local people resisted being moved from their settlements
to make way for a wildlife habitat in the late 1990s to
2000. The second context focuses on another Zimbabwe
site in which local people chose to squat on forest land
(from 2001) from which they had previously been evicted
in colonial and post-colonial times. The third focuses on
the Wild Coast in Eastern Cape of South Africa, where
local people continue to struggle against the state, twelve
years after their rights to a state protected area were res-
tored.
Keywords: nature, state, resistance
Presenter: Brett Matulis, University of Edinburgh
In 2000, Costa Rican government began a partnership
with the World Bank that transformed the face of Costa
Rica's national “payments for ecosystem services” (PES)
program. The Bank's influence is particularly evident in
the evolution of the program's financing mechanisms,
which have shifted towards direct financialised transac-
tions between ecosystem service “users” and “providers”.
This paper explores the social and ecological implications
of these changes and concludes that they are contributing
to producing geographically uneven patterns of conserva-
● 19 ●
tion–development. This assessment is situated in a theore-
tical framework informed by Neil Smith's “production of
nature” thesis, but also draws upon a distinction between
“immanent” and “intentional” development. Doing so
enables the exploration of both the capitalist and more-
than-capitalist production of uneven space. This is neces-
sary because of the important role that government has
played in the neoliberalisation of Costa Rican nature. Ra-
ther than designing the PES program to break the patterns
of uneven development associated with capitalist produc-
tion, the government chose to emulate the market, thus
reproducing familiar patterns of accumulation and inequi-
ty.
Keywords: uneven development; neoliberalism; PES
Presenter: Yassin B Mkwizu, Institute of Resource As-
sessment, University of Dar es Salaam
Co-author: RYM Kangalawe
Green economy is increasingly gaining momentum in devel-
opment discussions in view of its potential for economic
growth and poverty reduction. At local level, green agricul-
ture is one possible route that local communities can play a
noticeable role in green economy. However, agriculture is
facing challenges from climate change, making local com-
munities more vulnerable. Knowledge on how green agri-
culture can contribute to addressing climate change is there-
fore needed at local level, requiring effective communication.
The question of who facilitates local level information and
knowledge management processes, using which communi-
cation techniques is critical and the environment must make
knowledge sharing possible. This paper examines how story-
telling can enable local actors to access and disseminate cli-
mate change and green agriculture information. Based on an
ongoing study, this paper examines on the role of storytelling
in enabling access to climate change information by users in
the Eastern Arc Mountain Forest Ecosystem of Tanzania
where climate change, agriculture and water-related initiatives
are taking place. Information about the basics of climate
change and links with water, agriculture and health were pre-
sented in conventional and storytelling modes. Participants,
comprising of councillors and technical officers, were al-
lowed to read two sets of documents and then asked choose
their preferred presentation modes. The findings showed that
79% of women preferred storytelling against 21% who pre-
ferred conventional presentation. Corresponding proportions
for men were 65% and 35% respectively. Overall, 68% of
participants preferred storytelling; this preference for storytell-
ing, has development implications particularly regarding
packaging and presentation of climate change and green agri-
culture information to be used at local levels.
Presenter: Baruani Mshale, PhD Candidate, School of Natural
Resources and Environment, University of Michigan
The realisation that avoided deforestation in the tropics has the
potential to reduce up to 20% of global green-house gas
emissions saw the introduction of the international funding
mechanism to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest
degradation (REDD+) in several tropical developing coun-
tries since 2009. Combined with increased hegemony of neo-
liberal tenets of market-based approaches, democratic decen-
tralisation and participatory approaches, REDD+ has fuelled
the expansion of community-based forest management initia-
tives for the triple goals of reducing emissions, conserving
forest biodiversity and improving local livelihoods in human-
dominated forest ecosystems. However, empirical investiga-
tion on whether and how that approach is achieving the in-
tended impacts under different forest systems is just emerg-
ing. Using cases of REDD+ experimentation in Kilwa and
Lindi Districts in south-eastern Tanzania, this paper empirical-
ly investigates why REDD+ has remained elusive in that
context and how to make it work. Drawing on data from
extensive ethnographic field research (participant observa-
tions, oral histories, focus group discussions and semi-
structured in-depth interviews) spanning four years (2010-
2013) combined with household surveys, standard forest
inventories and geospatial analytics, this paper argues that
REDD+ remains elusive for three interlinked reasons. First,
given low prevailing carbon prices and low carbon stocks in
miombo ecosystems, carbon payments remain inadequate in
making avoided deforestation a competitive land, compared
to shifting-cultivation and wood extraction. At the same time
increased demand and prices for agricultural and forest prod-
ucts often make it more profitable to clear forests than main-
tain standing forests. Second, local people are hesitant to ac-
cept REDD+ given the social memory of harsh exclusionary
forest conservation approaches during colonial and post-
colonial socialism eras. They contend that REDD+ is just
another state project to control local residents’ access and use
of forested places. Third, the uncritical embrace of western-
style deliberative democracy for negotiation and consensus
building among diverse local actors remain ineffective in
serving as effective spaces for multi-actor negotiations about
forest access and control. The strict rules in running village
assembly meetings and insensitivity of deliberative democra-
● 20 ●
cy to pre-existing systems of deliberation, information inade-
quacies, and power imbalances make such democratic spaces
undemocratic and ineffective mechanisms for claim-making
by local forest residents. Instead, local forest residents have
adopted varieties of violent and non-violent resistance to as-
sert claims and challenge introduced forest management
institutions. Using this detailed description of the nuanced
social-ecological, historical and current political-economic
context of forest governance, this paper provides a rare empir-
ical critical analysis of two neo-liberal conservation approach-
es: payment for environmental services (PES) and communi-
ty based forest management (CBFM) approaches which are
uniquely combined under REDD+ arrangements.
Presenter: Emery Mudinga, Center for Development
Studies, Université Catholique de Louvain
Les accaparements de terres à grande échelle ont tendance
à préoccuper une bonne partie des analyses actuelles sur
ce phénomène dit de ‘land grabbing’. Très visiblement,
ces analyses ignorent les pertes quotidiennes de terres dont
sont victimes les petits paysans, à petite échelle, mais sur-
tout ne prennent pas en compte la singularité des contextes
dans lesquels se déroulent ces accaparements. Parmi ces
contextes on note ceux des milieux déchirés par les con-
flits ethniques, où opèrent des groupes armés et ceux où
l’Etat négocie lui-même sa propre légitimité. Pourtant, il
me semble évident que l’accaparement des terres ne peut
être analysé et compris sans que soit pris en compte la
singularité des contextes dans lesquels il s’opère ; car ce
sont ces contextes qui conditionnent et dictent les straté-
gies des acteurs. A travers deux cas d’étude tirés du Sud
Kivu à l’Est de la République Démocratique du Congo,
l’hypothèse qu’avance le présent article soutient que dans
un contexte d’Etat failli, la jouissance des droits fonciers
n’est pas (principalement) fonction de la détention des
titres légaux mais plutôt de la capacité des acteurs à mobi-
liser des stratégies alternatives obéissant beaucoup plus au
pragmatisme qu’aux normes formelles. Il soutient que le
recours aux forces armées est non seulement une forme de
résistance paysanne à l’accaparement de terres mais sur-
tout la traduction de la méfiance de la population envers
les instances officielles réglementant le foncier. Cette mé-
fiance participe par conséquent à la fragilisation de l’Etat et
des structures formelles de gestion des conflits et de pro-
tection des intérêts des populations.
Keywords: land grabbing, armed conflicts, DRC
Presenter: Joseph K Muriithi, School of Environmental
Studies, Kenyatta University
Embraced with much vigour in the 1990s, ecotourism was
adopted as a more socio-economically and environmentally
responsible form of tourism, and as an alternative to conven-
tional safari tourism in Ken-ya. Tourism actors had many
expectations and hopes that ecotourism was the “silver bullet”
to the many ills and impacts such as economic exploitation of
local communities by private tourism operators and destruc-
tion of local environments, in many of Kenya’s popular safari
tourism destinations. Kenya was also among the first African
countires to initiate home-grown initiatives to realise ecotou-
rism’s green credentials agenda. One initiative saw the intro-
duction of an eco-certification scheme, the eco-rating scheme,
a market-focused initiative conceptually geared towards esta-
blishing socio-economically, culturally and environmentally
responsible tourism practices in Kenya. It is now more than a
decade since the eco-rating scheme was implemented in
2002. What gains have been realised through eco-
certification? How have actors faired under ecotourism certi-
fication environment? Has certification in ecotourism helped
reverse the ills associated with conventional safari tourism
practice in Kenya? Using specific case study examples, this
paper highlights the state of affairs since the introduction of
eco-certification in terms of developing and implementing the
eco-rating scheme and the impacts associated with eco-
certification in the tourism sector in general.
Keywords: certification, ecotourism, green-credentials
Presenter : Agrippinah Namara, Responsive Forest Go-
vernance Initiative, IUCN-Uganda Country Office
About 70% of the forest estate in Uganda is privately owned.
Oversight of forests outside protected areas is decentralised to
District Local Governments, which also legally hold riverine
forests in trust for the people. Due to insufficient human and
logistical resources, Local Government institutions do not
enforce forestry regulations effectively, so deforestation is
rampant, at about 2.6% annually. Consequently, the central
agencies are slowly re-introducing their influence on the local
arena, through financially-based conservation interventions
targeting forests outside protected areas. This research ana-
lysed the democracy effects of a UNEP-implemented Pay-
● 21 ●
ment for Ecosystem Services pilot project in Hoima and
Kibaale Districts of Uganda. The project aims to procure
biodiversity conservation outside protected areas using expe-
rimental methodology. Results show that through this project
and other NGO-implemented interventions, external actors
are entrenching their influence over decision-making pro-
cesses in the local arena, and simultaneously over-riding the
legal mandate of the Local Government. Rather than enhance
Local Government capacity to enforce forestry regulations,
NGOs are promoting privatisation of riverine forests legally
held by Local Government. NGOs have empowered adja-
cent individual landowners to exclude subsistence forest use
by other community members, in order to comply with PES
contracts, and resource access conflict has increased. Forest
privatisation also gives individual forest owners the right to
clear the forest in future if they opt for landuse that yields
more returns than forestry. Consequently, the goal of forest
connectivity that is essential for biodiversity conservation may
become even more difficult to realise in future.
Keywords: PES, representation, forest governance
Presenter: Adrian Nel, University of Otago
In an era when the global community is increasingly con-
cerned about a changing climate, Carbon Forestry pro-
jects, including REDD+, are promoted as a 'win-win' for
climate change mitigation and community development,
and often evaluated in isolation. However, this paper ar-
gues that in order to understand carbon forestry, and en-
gage questions concerning the efficacy of carbon seques-
tration, or the potential of carbon forestry to address, im-
prove or exacerbate equity problems, it is crucial to under-
stand changes in forestry governance in particular places.
Based on empirical data from qualitative research on how
carbon forestry 'takes place' in Uganda, this presentation
draws from materialist political ecology perspectives in
geography to highlight that the contemporary assemblage
of carbon forestry and market environmentalism in Ugan-
da is complicit in a process of reterritorialisation; altering
territorial and governance arrangements. This change can
be described as a shift from territorial governance (the
control of forest territories) to flow based governance
(through 'flows' of biomass) to control populations of trees
and people. This paper contends that, in order to under-
stand carbon forestry in Uganda (and potentially how it
might apply elsewhere), it is necessary to understand three
territorial processes that dcharacterise forestry governance
changes; of territorialisation, reterritorialisation and deterri-
torialisaiton. Within this theoretic we can see that, contrary
to win-win meta-narratives, contemporary forestry gov-
ernance arrangements such as carbon forestry might ac-
commodate and extend processes of deforestation, and
result in the ongoing marginalisation and exclusion of
rural poor.
Keywords: carbon forestry; Uganda; neoliberal governace;
green exclusion
Presenter : Aymar Nyenyezi, Center for Development
Studies, Université Catholique de Louvain
Bien que déconstruit dès les années 1970 (Gontard, 2001), le
paradigme de la modernité continue encore aujourd’hui de
dicter ses logiques universalistes à l’essentiel des politiques de
développement (Peemans, 2013) visant entre autres les petits
paysans (Ansoms, 2012). Certes, la reconnaissance des para-
digmes de la complexité et du relativisme portés par la pensée
post-moderniste a tenté de mettre fin au savoir global et au
sens univoque des phénomènes au profit de leur pluralité
(Otis, 2012), valorisant ainsi les pratiques locales (Baret,
2012). Cependant, les politiques de développement n’ont pas
arrêté d’imposer leurs idéologies censées promouvoir un
certain « développement »... ; un certain « développe-
ment durable » de ces paysans (Charlier 2013). Il s’agit ici,
pour Scott, des paysans qui n’ignorent pas les idéologies hé-
gémoniques promues par ses agents politiques et intellectuels,
mais des paysans qui essayent juste de résister dans la limite
de leurs ressources et opportunités (1956).
C’est à travers cette grille, que nous situons d’emblée dans la
« political ecology », que le présent article va essayer
d’appréhender la politique de la sécurisation foncière telle
qu’appliquée actuellement au Burundi. Il tentera tout d’abord
de capter et de comprendre la dimension idéologique dans le
mode de sécurisation foncière y importé par les acteurs domi-
nants – ici les bailleurs des fonds (1). Il essayera ensuite de
comprendre la notion de ‘‘conscience de la domination’’ par
les paysans à travers l’analyse de la manière dont l’action
idéologique de sécurisation foncière passe par le renforce-
ment d’acteurs locaux existants – ici les agents des cadastres
fonciers. Il s’agit des acteurs étatiques plus ou moins proches
des dominés et incarnant leur idéologie (2). Enfin, sur base de
l’expérience paysanne de sécurisation foncière au Burundi, il
proposera un passage de la lecture domination/résistance vers
une lecture pouvoir/« agencéité ». A partir de là, il essayera de
montrer comment la conscience de la domination n’est pas
toujours nécessaire pour qu’il y ait résistance à l’idéologie
portée par la même domination (3).
Mots clé : arène foncière, contextes post-conflits, Burundi
● 22 ●
Presenter: Mette Fog Olwig, Roskilde University
Co-authors: Christine Noe, Richard Kangalawe and
Emmanuel Luoga
The growth in land acquisitions is partially being attributed to the
need for mitigation measures in the face of climate change. As a
result, many initiatives have been focused on land-based in-
vestments concentrated on biofuel production as a means to alle-
viate the global fuel crisis and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
In Tanzania, however, biofuel projects are being significantly
downscaled, partly because few initiatives have been successful
economically, and partly because of international criticism of
using potential food resources for fuel. Investor focus is in-stead
shifting to forestry plantations. These plantations are being esta-
blished through reforestation as well as afforestation, and on lands
perceived and presented as idle. Being framed as a means of
furthering a global common good of a healthy environment, the
land acquisitions are often supported globally, sometimes even
financially through e.g. World Bank funding. Using an empirical
approach, and emphasising local perceptions, this study investi-
gates the growing trend in Tanzania of investing in land to esta-
blish forest plantations. We will argue that these forest plantations,
and the supposed economic and environmental benefits they
accrue, may come at the expense of the future livelihood, land
and food security of the local populations. This paper will thereby
question the common wisdom of trees being “green”, “idle” land
being waste and global investments being beneficial locally.
Keywords: carbon forestry, land acquisitions, idle land
Presenters: Valentin Ngorisa Olyang’iri and Godfrey Massay,
HAKIARDHI/Land Rights Research and Resources Institute
In recent years, Tanzania has experienced mush-rooming
Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) along conservation
and protected areas. This has caused loss of grazing lands
and water points for pastoralist communities which live
along such areas. The result is that pastoralists have been
evicted from such areas in the name of conservation wi-
thout proper compensation or alternative grazing land.
WMAs are established with a view to creating an oppor-
tunity for the community surrounding the national parks,
and game reserved areas to benefit from the resources
found in such areas. Prior to this initiative local communi-
ties were not benefiting from wildlife resources while poa-
ching of animals and conflicts between local communities
and conservation authorities were the order of the day. At
the moment there are 16 pilot WMAs in Tanzania, mostly
found around pastoralist-inhabited areas hence causing
competing livelihood and conservation interests. This
paper analyses the theoretical legal framework governing
WMAs in Tanzania by showing both the strengths and
weaknesses of the current legal regime. The paper argues
that pastoralists are at losing end due to gaps in the legal
framework and the hostility between the law and practice.
Using the best cases of WMAs the paper proposes policy
options to rescue the situation and argue for change in
practices within the current legal framework to achieve the
intended objectives.
Keywords: Wildlife Management Areas, pastoralists, policy
Presenter: Stefano Ponte, Department of Business and
Politics, Copenhagen Business School
The willingness of public authority to delegate social and
environmental regulation has led to the establishment of a
large number of ‘voluntary’ standards and certifications on
sustainability. Many of these have taken the form of
‘stewardship councils’ and ‘sustainability roundtables’ and
have been designed around a set of institutional features
seeking to establish legitimacy, fend off possible criticism,
and ‘sell’ certifications to potential users. As procedures
and features of these councils and roundtables become
increasingly complex, they are accompanied by higher
expectations on accountability, transparency and inclu-
siveness. This paper examines to what extent these expec-
tations are being met through the comparative case study
of two sustainability certifications in the biofuel industry
— in the context of a wider set of experiences in the agro-
food and forestry sectors. It shows that the increased com-
plexity these initiatives face in standard setting and man-
agement is opening space for competing schemes (that are
less democratic, quicker, and more aligned with industry
interests) to establish substantial presence in the market for
sustainability certifications. The latter tend to more easily
discriminate on the basis of size (against small players)
and geography (against actors in the global South). The
paper concludes with a reflection on what can be done,
through appropriate regulation, to address this situation.
● 23 ●
Presenter: Jessica Pouchet, Northwestern University
This paper calls for a more holistic approach to studying ex-
change in the green political economies of places experiencing
community-based conservation. The pervasiveness of market-
based logics in the design and assessment of community-based
conservation render the green economy and the politics of pro-
tected areas inseparable. Contemporary debates in conservation
governance, for instance, concern ecosystem services, compen-
sation, income-generation, and cost-benefit sharing and are
often cast in neoliberal terms of economic ex-change. Yet
pushing social and ecological processes through the market
prioritises commodities at the expense of other, equally signifi-
cant factors, thereby obscuring much of what shapes the politi-
cal ecological reality of life inside and surrounding protected
areas. With insights gained from preliminary fieldwork in and
around nature reserves in Tanzania’s Usambara Mountains, the
paper explores how an anthropological perspective on ex-
change and value can contribute greater nuance to the study of
participatory forest management in the Eastern Arc and
beyond. Drawing on theoretical developments to bring the
material and social dynamics of exchange into the same analy-
tical frame, the paper outlines how qualitative yet systematic
documentation of communication, negotiation, and inequality
in participatory forest management can illustrate the multiple
ways in which the value of forest resources are created and
contested. This ethnographic approach can illuminate the chain
of communicative events through which global conservation
priorities come to shape the political economic contexts of fo-
rest-adjacent communities, as well as how members of these
communities impact global debates about forest conservation
and value. Indeed, this approach to participation can comple-
ment quantitative evaluations of participatory forest manage-
ment to address some of the challenges faced by scholars and
practitioners seeking to reduce inequalities in forest conserva-
tion and governance while also mitigating ecological degrada-
tion.
Keywords: Participatory forest management; value; political
economy
Presenter: Maano Ramutsindela, University of Cape Town
The conservation enterprise has emerged as a platform on
which ecological, social, economic and political spheres inte-
ract, and are also in conflict with one another, with wide ran-
ging implications for society and the environment. The inte-
ractions among these spheres are neither organic nor static but
are rather spatio-temporal, mainly as a consequence of hu-
man actions and interests, evident in theoretical and empirical
studies on society and nature, and the whole history of pro-
tected areas. Such interactions and the consequent rela-
tionships are a reference point for understanding the ways that
environmental governance structures are constituted for va-
rious purposes. Many scholarly insights have been gained
from nature and the various contexts in which it is embedded,
but there is still a considerable lack of attention to the ways in
which changes in the conservation enterprise impact on la-
bour. What is the nature of labour in conservation areas and
associated activities? What happens to labour when conserva-
tion areas undergo considerable changes? And, how is labour
organised and reorganised as a result of such changes? This
paper grapples with these questions to tease out the fortunes
of labour in conservation areas and to bring questions of la-
bour within the broader social science research on conserva-
tion areas into sharp analytical focus. For a start, an inquiry
into the fortunes of labour in conservation areas should appre-
ciate the ways in which labour is sourced and reproduced : a
combination of philanthropy and notions of development are
deployed as a double-edged strategy by which labour is sour-
ced and organised to ensure its long-term service to conserva-
tion areas. This form of extractive philanthropy is more pro-
nounced in private nature reserves such as Londolozi outside
South Africa’s Kruger National park, and is being replicated
elsewhere.
Presenter: Nancy A Rushohora, Stella Maris Mtwara
University College and PhD student, University of Pretoria
This paper presents the perceptions of the Mtwara people
over the discovered natural gas in Msimbati area. The
paper presents the facts and fictions surrounding the dis-
covery, extraction and the benefits anticipated thereafter.
Furthermore, the communities of Mtwara imagine the
benefits of the natural gas to eternity with nobody mentio-
● 24 ●
ning of the adverse environmental impacts of its extrac-
tion. Through participatory observation and informal in-
terviews, the study indicate that people of all walks of life
and with no disparities in gender expect immense benefits
will result from extracting natural gas. To them the power
plant for extracting gas for electricity should be based at
Mtwara and nowhere else and they expect a symbiotic
benefit. For example, a bricklayer expects to benefit from
the workers in the energy sector who will probably need
housing. The benefits of gas as imagined by the commu-
nities of Mtwara seem to include the several generations
of children. With so much emphasis placed on the bene-
fits, the disadvantages and challenges of natural gas ob-
served elsewhere need to be highlighted in awareness
campaigns for the local people for a proper management,
benefit and maintenance of the perceived eternal benefits.
Keywords: gender, environment, resource use
Presenter: Mathew Agripinus Senga, Department of Socio-
logy and Anthropology, University of Dar es Salaam
The existence of relational trust among network actors is said
to facilitate collective action and enhance successful collabo-
rative practices of natural resource management. This paper
uses a stochastic actor-oriented modelling approach to pro-
vide two simple models for dynamics of trust relationships in
a network of Village Conservation and Development Com-
mittee (VCDC) in Amani Nature Reserve, Tanzania. By
simultaneously modelling network (social selection) and
behavior (social influence) this paper tests the hypothesis
whether or not actors with similar attribute(s) tend to trust
similar influential actors on the decisions about issues related
to local collaborative practices of natural resource manage-
ment. Results show that homophily effect for actor attribute
and behavior (influence on decisions of natural resource ma-
nagement) average similarity have an important role to play
on selection, maintenance or dissolution of trust ties among
VCDC actors in the context of collaborative practices of natu-
ral resource management. This paper contributes theoretically
and methodologically to a discussion of the importance of
trust in interaction of actors involved in collaborative practices
of natural resource management, particularly in developing
countries such as Tanzania. The literature on such framework
is still underdeveloped.
Keywords: trust, collaborative natural resource management,
network
Presenter: Melanie Stroebel, University of Manchester
This paper explores the contradictions between the tourism in-
dustry’s aspirations for future growth in the Green Economy and
the concerns of NGOs and academics regarding the actual poten-
tials of industry benefits and efficiency claims. Tourism is consid-
ered an important strategy for development in the South, but
tourism is also a major contributor to climate change. With emis-
sions forecast to grow substantially in the coming decades and no
technological solution to reduce emissions in sight, a low carbon
future appears difficult to achieve for tourism. This paper argues
that in this context, industry representatives employ a number of
arguments that reflect Green Economy ideas in an attempt to
protect the tourism industry from regulatory limitations. Debates
in global environmental governance literature provide the
framework for a thematic analysis that reviewed stakeholder
documents and 21 semi-structured interviews with representa-
tives from tour operators, industry associations, NGOs and aca-
demia. From this analysis, different strategies of framing tourism
and climate change emerged. The focus of this paper is on two
framing strategies that are central to Green Economy ideas and
practices: the role of industry for development and poverty allevi-
ation and the potentials of technology in improving resource
efficiency.
Analysis of these framings revealed two discursive clusters,
one comprised of industry representatives and one comprised
of representatives from NGOs and academia. Their contra-
dictory framings of tourism’s potential for development and
poverty alleviation and the differently perceived possibilities
for emissions reductions give an indication that Green Econ-
omy ideas are evaluated subjectively. The contradictions
furthermore reveal that in the case of tourism ideas of Green
Economy are employed as framing strategies to protect exist-
ing consumption patterns of the North.
Keywords: global environmental governance, climate change, tou-
rism
Presenter: Hanne Svarstad, Development Studies, HIOA
Co-authors: Connor Cavanagh, Pål Vedeld, Tor A. Ben-
jaminsen, David Tumusiime, Espen Sjaastad, Faustin
Maganga, Helga Lerkelund
State agencies, international environmental NGOs
and donors often present the establishment of con-
servation areas in Africa as a triple-win solution for
biodiversity protection, climate change mitigation,
● 25 ●
and poverty reduction. Conversely, activists and cri-
tical scholars have recently framed such enclosures
as part of a global ‘green grab’, in which external
actors impose unjust restrictions on local land and
resource access. We suggest moving beyond this
polarised debate, albeit in ways that also depart from
recent discussions of ‘trade-offs’ and ‘hard choices’
between conservation and development. Instead we
propose requiring from all the actors behind esta-
blished as well as new environmental interventions
that they ensure all the affected communities and
households at least minimum economic require-
ments for environmental justice. Such requirements
imply that local inhabitants are relieved from costs
of an environmental intervention that exceed their
benefits. Our suggestion is based on investigations of
local perceptions and economic impacts of national
parks in Tanzania and Uganda. Even in our studies
of two ostensible ‘best cases’ — Kilimanjaro Natio-
nal Park and Bwindi Impenetrable National Park —
we conclude that the conditions are unacceptable
from an environmental justice perspective. By the
use of narrative analysis, we found strong senses of
injustice within selected villages around both parks.
Furthermore, our livelihood studies showed that
people have a good reason to be discontent, since
only a small part of their costs of the conservation is
compensated for with benefits. Moreover, some
households and ethnic groups bear a disproportio-
nate share of the negative consequences from current
policies and practices. Additional studies of one
more case in each country confirm the expectation of
even lower environmental justice than in the two
assumed ‘best cases’.
Keywords: conservation, protected area, environmental justice,
narratives, green grab, Africa, Tanzania, Uganda
Presenter: Tom A. Smith, University of Sheffield
Co-authors: Chasca Twyman, University of Sheffield,
and Alex Arnall, University of Reading
Carbon has been described as a ‘surreal commodity’. Whilst
carbon trading, storage, sequestration and emissions have
become a part of the contemporary climate lexicon, how ‘carbon’
is understood, valued and interpreted by actors at the sharp end of
carbon sequestration projects is still unclear. In this review paper,
we are concerned with how carbon has come to take on a range
of meanings, and in particular, we appraise what is known about
the situated meanings of those who are involved in delivering,
and participating in, carbon sequestration projects in the global
South. While there has been considerable reflection on the new
meanings conferred on carbon from the neoliberal processes of
marketisation, as well as historical and contemporary narratives
of environmental change, less is known about how these mea-
nings are (re)produced and (re)interpreted locally. This paper
reviews how carbon has been defined both as a chemical element
and as a tradable, marketable commodity with associated values
and meanings, and discuss the implications these ‘global’ mea-
nings might have for situated understandings amongst communi-
ties in the global South. The paper discusses the implications of
specific values attributed to carbon, and therefore to different
ecologies, for wider conceptualisations of how nature is valued,
and particularly how this may impact on community understan-
dings. Furthermore, the paper considers how the concept of ‘car-
bon capabilities’, alongside theoretical notions of networks, as-
semblages and local knowledges of the environment and nature
might be useful in beginning to understand how communities
might engage with abstract notions of carbon.
Keywords: carbon, local knowledge, community
Presenter: Theodros Woldegiorgis, VU University
The 2007–2008 food and fuel crises have triggered an
unprecedented surge of transnational agricultural invest-
ments in the global South. Endowed with natural re-
sources, Ethiopia is one of the countries that has been tar-
geted for large-scale agricultural projects with investors
from particularly the Middle East, South East Asia and
Europe. Early desk studies conducted by the World Bank
argue that the economic benefits of large-scale agricultural
investments in countries with major agricultural devel-
opment potential and little capital wealth are considerable.
They highlight the development opportunities of large
scale agricultural investments, such as employment possi-
bilities and major infrastructural improvements. However,
NGOs, activist groups and academics have severely cri-
tiqued this positive evaluation, arguing that the World
Bank has taken a narrow economic approach, in which
environmental, socio-cultural or political impacts of large-
scale mono-cropping projects are ignored. Still others
have pragmatically argued that an international regulatory
frameworks can provide the necessary conditions for large
land use changes to be beneficial to local people and the
environment.
● 26 ●
This paper explores the impact of foreign large-scale agri-
cultural project on land use management, livelihoods, and
the environmental and socio-cultural dynamics in the
Oromia region of Ethiopia (Bako-Tibe). To explore the
above themes the analytical model of ‘zones of intermedi-
ality’ is used. Facilitating a multi-level, multi-spatial and
multi-cultural analysis, the model is particularly suited to
draw into the analysis different levels of stakeholder
communication and interaction. The researcher used
qualitative data collection instruments, and will share
preliminary findings of his field research.
Keywords: transnational agricultural investment, livelihood,
environment and socio-cultural dynamics
Presenter: Victor Corey Wright, PhD Anthropology
candidate, McGill University
In Tanzania, Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) are
facilitating an entrenchment and expansion of the green
economy — purportedly, offering new opportunities for
conservation, tourism and subsequently, prosperity. The
debate concerning their effectiveness and impact has pola-
rised the conservation community. Much of the academic
literature on the topic has clearly and definitively eluci-
dated their challenges, pitfalls, and the adverse impacts
they’ve had on many communities. This paper doesn’t
dispute the discouraging status of WMAs in Tanzania or
the potential threat they represent to communities. Ne-
vertheless, it highlights a case in Enduimet WMA of Nor-
thern Tanzania that differs from the common narrative,
and may provide some cause for optimism. The paper
emphasises complexity in our consideration of environ-
mental governance, including the multiple, dynamic levels
of authority, diverse actors, and their invariably complex,
often-conflicting interests. Drawing on current field
research in Enduimet, the paper outlines a conflict bet-
ween WMA members, and a foreign tour operator. Prior
to the WMA, the operator has allegedly taken advantage
of communities for years. Now, however, he faces increa-
sing challenges arising from the Authorized Association
(AA) — the body of elected village members who are
responsible for managing WMAs and foreign in-
vestments. Based on this experience in Enduimet, the
paper considers the rather ironic role of AAs in contesting
neoliberalism and constraining the state. It poses the ques-
tion, ‘could the collectivising process, which underpins
WMA creation, empower communities and provide a
platform for contesting neoliberal trends in Tanzania?’
While the paper remains cautious in its assessment of fu-
ture prospects, it emphasises complexity and the impor-
tance of not discounting the role of community actors to
resist and influence neoliberal trajectories.
Keywords: governance, resistance, Tanzania